Professor Kurosaki: Rewrite (On Hiatus)
by AlucardsBro
Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki never imagined that his life would become any more hectic than simply dealing with the occasional rogue Hollow. However, after a malfunction within a Senkaimon spits him out in a strange, yet surprisingly familiar world, he will be forced to deal with many new colorful characters. Superheroes and evil villains he can handle, but what about superpowered teenagers?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Beyond the Tresses of Time and Space

* * *

 **Hey everyone!**

 **I know that I said this story would be up much earlier, but between the end of the semester and focusing on my other stories, I have certainly been busy. Now then, let me make several things clear about this rewrite…**

 **First of all, the time in which it is taking place will no longer be after the Thousand Year Blood War Arc; instead, it will be shortly after the end of the Fullbring Arc. This means that this story will replace everything that happens afterward.**

 **Secondly, after rereading the original version of this story, I was appalled at how poor my knowledge of** _ **Bleach**_ **really was. Since that time, I have reread the actual manga as well as rewatched the anime, so I hope my understanding will be much better. I also did research whenever it was needed.**

 **Finally, in addition to Ichigo and the main adult MHA cast, I will also be including a character from a third series. Her portrayal in this story will be…noticeably different…than in canon, but it is essential to the overall plot. Trust me, you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.**

 **Right then, sorry for the long Author's Note. I hope you all enjoy!**

 **AlucardsBro OUT!**

* * *

Sunlight streamed through his window, which immediately assaulted his bleary eyes.

Grumbling under his breath, Ichigo Kurosaki brought a hand up to his face and rubbed the last remnants of sleep from his features. He had slept surprisingly well last night, but that was most likely due to the simple fact that Kon, or 'Bostov' as Yuzu called him, had been abducted and forced to spend the night in his sisters' room.

The orange-head held no sympathy for the damn little pervert.

Sitting up and stretching his arms over his head until a satisfying 'pop' was heard, Ichigo threw his sheets aside and moved over to his closet to prepare for the day. Pulling out a pair of jeans and a plain white shirt, his mind began to wander as he switched out his sleepwear for the more appropriate articles of clothing.

It had been nearly three weeks since the altercation with Xcution, and despite the fact that he had assured Rukia and Renji that he was fit to return to duty, they had both forbidden him from doing anything too strenuous for a while. Apparently, they were worried that he might be suffering from a sensory overload after not being able to detect Spiritual Energy for such a long time. He had to admit that suddenly being able to do so after nearly two whole years had been a tad overwhelming at first, but he had been able to slide back into the swing of things quickly enough.

Looking in his mirror, and deeming himself presentable enough for the day, Ichigo walked over to open his bedroom door. However, just as he grasped the handle, his inherent battle instincts began screaming at him. Letting out a sigh, he opened the door and stepped to the side just in time to avoid the six-foot-tall missile that careened through the doorframe and into the room.

Isshin Kurosaki impacted the far wall with a heavy thud, before slowly and comically sliding back down to the floor. However, the former Soul Reaper Captain remained undeterred, and quickly hopped back up to his feet.

"Why would you dodge such an attack, my son?!" Isshin shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at the deadpanning orange-head. "Surely you should have known that doing so would cause your poor dear father bodily harm!"

"Shut up Goat-Chin…" Ichigo snorted, prompting his father to squawk in indignation. "Maybe a hard enough blow to that fat head of yours will finally get you to start acting your age." Facing away from the bearded man, the Substitute moved to finally join his sisters downstairs in the kitchen.

He should have known that taking his attention off of his idiot other was always a bad idea…

Isshin's arm wrapped around Ichigo's neck, trapping him in a headlock. "How dare you speak to me that way Ichigo! You should know that its only proper to treat your elders with respect!" With that declaration, the former Captain dug his knuckles into the younger man's scalp.

"Yeah?! Well maybe if you stopped acting like a ten-year-old, I'd finally take you seriously!" the orange-head shouted back. Gathering every ounce of strength he could muster, Ichigo bunched upon the muscles in his legs before vaulting both himself and his father into the nearest wall. Of course, with Isshin being behind him, the older man was the one who took most of the impact.

"Is that so, you little punk?! Well maybe if you stopped acting so broody all the time, I wouldn't be forced to make up for all of the negativity around here!" the dark-haired man barked, retaliating by pushing off of the wall with his feet, sending both of the Kurosaki men careening through Ichigo's bedroom door.

They rolled through the hallway, exchanging a myriad of punches, kicks, and insults that would make the likes of even Rangiku Matsumoto blush like a schoolgirl. Finally, they tumbled down the stairs in a tangle of limbs until eventually collapsing into a heap in the living room.

Finally managing to plant a foot in his father's stomach, Ichigo vaulted the rambunctious man nearly halfway across the room, where he collided with the couch and knocked it onto its back. Letting out an annoyed snort, the orange-head rose to his feet and limped over to the table, where Karin and Yuzu were already waiting patiently.

"You two really shouldn't fight like that," Yuzu scolded. "Dad is getting up there in age, you know. You might accidentally hurt him one of these days."

Both Ichigo and Karin shared a dry look, while pointedly ignoring Isshin's cry of protest from the other side of the room. The dark-haired girl shook her head and picked up a croquette with her chopsticks. "Goat-Chin is thick-headed enough to survive a nuclear explosion; I doubt a little roughhousing will be enough to knock his brain back into place…"

"Masaki, do you see how our children treat me?!" the Kurosaki patriarch wailed, while pathetically crawling towards the enormous poster of his wife he had hanging on the wall.

Ichigo let out a sigh. "Shut up, and come eat your damn breakfast."

Within a fraction of a second, Isshin appeared to teleport clear across the room and into his chair at the table. Now, a normal person might have been baffled by the seemingly impossible action that the man just executed, but the younger residents of the Kurosaki household had long-since become accustomed to the goofy man's baffling behavior. "You should watch your language around your sisters, Ichigo," the former Captain reprimanded. "I would have to beat you black and blue if I learned that you corrupted my two sweet princesses with your vulgar mannerisms."

Yuzu blushed, and squirmed awkwardly in her seat, while Karin's brow merely twitched in annoyance.

"I'd be more worried about inadvertently teaching them that it's okay to physically assault your children," the orange-head retorted dryly.

"I have done no such thing," Isshin replied innocently, digging into his rice. "All I have done is try to teach a young delinquent how to become a proper man."

"A young delinquent, huh?"

"That's right."

Both Kurosaki men fixed each other with fierce glares, while the twins merely sighed in reluctant acceptance and continued eating their breakfast.

After breakfast concluded, Ichigo announced that he would be heading out for a while. Grabbing his wallet, phone, and a light jacket, the Substitute gave himself one last look in the mirror before heading to the front door. However, just as he was about to leave, a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him from stepping outside.

Looking over his shoulder, already knowing that it was his father, the orange-head prepared to deliver some kind of snarky comment. However, the serious expression on Isshin's face gave him a moment of pause.

"How are you doing, Ichigo?"

"Um, fine. Why do you ask?"

The former Captain snorted and leaned against the doorframe. "Don't give me that crap. Whether you've noticed it or not, you have been doing nothing but sulking for the past two years. Ikumi noticed it, Tatsuki noticed it, your sisters have noticed it, and you can be damn well sure that I have as well. Now though, you have your powers back, but you haven't been acting any different. So, I'll ask again…how are you doing?"

Ichigo frowned, and took a moment to gather his thoughts. "I…I guess I've just become kind of used to the idea that I'd never get my powers back. But now that I have them, it seems really surreal. I think it'll just take time to get used to it again."

Isshin' expression remained firm, yet he nodded in understanding. "I take it that you're heading to that big 'Welcome Back' party your friends from Soul Society are throwing?"

The orange-head blinked in surprise. "How do you know about that?"

"Oh please, I'm your father. If I'm not meddling in your personal business, then I'm not doing my job as a parent correctly," the older man replied with a small grin.

"Yeah, like that isn't creepy at all…"

"Hey! When you have kids, you'll understand."

Ichigo snorted and turned away, waving his father off. "Yeah well, if I ever _do_ end up having kids, it'll be a hell of a long time from now. And I sure as hell hope I won't be the kind of dad who puts them through surprise combat training in the middle of the night."

Grumbling under his breath, Isshin watched as his son walked further down the street in the direction of Urahara Shop.

"Damn ungrateful brat…"

* * *

The walk to Kisuke's place was, in a word, rather peaceful.

If anything, it provided Ichigo with a bit of time to be alone with his thoughts. Had he really been acting all mopey for the past two years? If he had, he certainly hadn't been aware of the fact…

Sure, he would admit that he had been a bit depressed for a while after initially losing his powers during the fight against Aizen, but he had eventually come to terms with his ordinary life. And, odd as it might sound, he enjoyed the simple moments of hanging out with Keigo, Mizuiro, and Tatsuki again. Even Chizuru's company had been appreciated in the aftermath of the Winter War.

It was nice to once again spend time with his friends who weren't actively involved in any supernatural business. Ichigo would even admit to feeling guilty about not spending as much time with them as he should have ever since initially gaining his Substitute Soul Reaper powers.

That being said, none of them had ever pointed out that he'd been acting any differently. Had they simply been trying to help him through his grief without even speaking up?

If so, then now he _really_ felt like an ass…

How irritating must it have been for them to listen and watch as he did nothing but feel sorry for himself? At least now that he was aware of how he'd been acting, he could actively do something to improve himself.

Breaking himself from his internal musings, Ichigo looked around and idly noticed that there were hardly any people out and about this morning. It wasn't really too unusual, considering that it was getting close to Christmas. Most people had probably already finished their gift shopping, and were now spending time with their families.

Still though, even he would admit that it was slightly unnerving to see so few people at this time of day…

Shrugging, the orange-head merely shook his head and brought up a hand to absently scratch his chin. However, he paused briefly on feeling the coarse bristles coating his jawline. Damn, he hadn't realized how badly he needed to shave. Chuckling lightly to himself, Ichigo smiled and shoved his hands back into his pockets.

The remainder of the walk to Urahara Shop was full of much needed relaxation, and the Substitute grinned upon finally rounding the corner and seeing the familiar candy shop. Of course, that's what it only appeared to be to the untrained eye. But he, and nearly every spiritually aware person in Karakura Town, knew better.

Walking up the steps, Ichigo prepared to knock on the wooden door. Unfortunately for him though, the door suddenly opened before his knuckles could even make contact. Amber eyes and violet hair appeared in the doorway, and the orange-head felt a _very_ cold chill creep down his spine at the coy grin that was sent his way.

"Well _hello,_ my darling student," Yoruichi Shihouin purred.

That sound alone was enough to reduce most men to puddles of jelly, even without the knowledge of who the voice belonged to. The woman herself had been gifted with such seductive and graceful beauty that most human supermodels would spontaneously combust out of pure jealousy.

And, interestingly enough, Ichigo was one of the few men in existence, alive or otherwise, who had seen what lay beneath her usual attire. Suffice to say, those days spent training in the hot springs had been a tortuous mixture of both heaven and hell…

"Hey Yoruichi," the orange-head grunted. "Is Kisuke in?"

The ebony woman frowned marginally, and Ichigo grimaced at the challenging gleam that flashed through her eyes. "Maybe he is, but just so you know, it is very rude to casually dismiss a woman you haven't seen in nearly two years."

"Yeah, well…I'm sorry about that, but I've got somewhere that I need to be."

"Oh, I heard. It's adorable that all of your friends from Soul Society decided to throw you a welcome back party."

Coughing uncomfortably, the young man glanced off of the side when Yoruichi acknowledged his goal, yet still refused to move. His eyes followed nearly every groove in the wooden porch beneath his feet, yet he knew even without looking back up that her piercing golden eyes were still firmly locked on him. Finally, he reluctantly met her gaze. "Is there something that you needed…?"

The Flash Goddess scoffed. "Not particularly…just admiring how much you've grown since the last time I saw you. I'm digging the mini-beard."

Ichigo grinned slightly. "Don't tell me that it reminds you of Hat-n-Clogs."

"Not at all, yours is much more distinguished," she snorted.

The Substitute actually let out a laugh at that, with Yoruichi joining in a moment later.

"I have to know though," she grinned slyly. "Does the carpet match the drapes?"

Ichigo's smile was almost immediately replaced with an annoyed scowl. Gathering himself once again, he walked forward and shoved past his former mentor, who blinked in a mixture of confusion and surprise.

"It was good talking to again Yoruichi," he bit out harshly.

Frowning, the ebony woman reached out and laid a hand on the young man's shoulder before he could get too far. "Oh please Ichigo, I was only kidding."

Whirling around fast enough to actually make to older woman flinch, the orange-head snarled and stared right into her eyes. "Oh _really?_ Somehow I sincerely doubt that."

"What is _that supposed_ to mean?"

"You know damn well what I mean!" Ichigo shouted, making Yoruichi shrink back in shock. "You know, I was actually happy to see you after these past two years, and I was honestly ready to sit down and talk before heading to Soul Society. But you know what? If you don't even have the common decency to treat me like a person instead of a _goddamn_ toy, then you aren't even worth my time."

Turning back around and ignoring the shell-shocked woman completely, the irate young man prepared to walk further into the shop.

However, his anger was quickly replaced with hesitance once he felt a pair of slender arms wrap around his chest from behind. Burying her face between his shoulder blades, Yoruichi let out a heavy breath. "I-I'm sorry."

Ichigo turned his head slightly to try and look at her, but their current position made that impossible. "You'll have to forgive me if I don't believe you…"

"I mean it," she insisted. "You should know me well enough by now to know that I'm not good with all of that mushy touchy-feely bullshit. Our back and forth dynamic is what I'm used to, so I guess I was just more comfortable falling back into that. My teasing was balanced out by your prudishness."

The orange-head scowled slightly. "I'm not prudish…"

"Oh, hush child. All jokes and teasing aside, I _really have_ missed you…"

Remaining silent for a minute, Ichigo finally let out a sigh and turned back around to face his mentor. This action was a bit difficult due to the fact that she refused to release her hold on him, but eventually he was able to return her gesture of affection. "I probably shouldn't have snapped like I did…"

"Gee, you think?" the Flash Goddess snarked.

"Quiet you. If you can forgive me for that, then I'll forgive you in return."

Yoruichi inhaled deeply, and in a rare moment where she allowed her inner feline to shine through to the surface, nuzzled into her former student's chest. "I suppose that is acceptable."

Chuckling now that the tension had evaporated, Ichigo gently rubbed the older woman's back, running a hand along her spine.

A low, guttural sound filled the air.

Both man and woman froze, and the orange-head slowly pulled away to look down at his mentor. She absolutely refused to meet his eyes.

"D-Did you just…purr?"

"If you ever tell _anyone,_ I will cut off your testicles and feed them to you through a straw," she said quietly. "Do you understand me, my darling student?"

Ichigo swallowed nervously, knowing that she was both capable and willing to fulfill that promise. "Yes ma'am."

Yoruichi finally looked up at him and smiled, patting his cheek firmly. "Good boy. Come on, I'll take you to Kisuke."

Neither or them pointed out how her cheeks were still a flaming shade of red.

Now that she was facing away from him, Ichigo couldn't help but smile. Heh, who knew he would ever get to see the prideful and illustrious Yoruichi Shihouin blush like a schoolgirl?

This would be a day he would remember forever.

* * *

"Well, well, look who finally decided to drop in for a visit," Kisuke drawled sarcastically, not even bothering to look up from whatever it was he was tinkering with. "Something tells me that you're only here because you want something…"

Hopping off of the insanely long ladder that led from Urahara Shop and down into the eccentric shopkeeper's subterranean training grounds, Ichigo let out a snort and followed Yoruichi up to the former Captain's position. "It's not like you have anything else I want. You should already know why I'm here."

Spinning around dramatically, the blond man placed a hand over his heart in mock-insult. "Oh Ichigo, how you wound me so. Here I am, willing to teach you about the ways of the world and how to become a proper man, yet you only treat me like a supernatural ferryman… for shame, young man."

The orange-head scoffed. "Oh please, if I wanted someone to teach me how to be a man, then I'd just ask her," he snarked back, jerking a thumb at Yoruichi.

The ebony woman's mouth fell open in unabashed shock, and Kisuke fell into a howling round of laughter.

Wiping a tear from his eye, the blond shopkeeper shook his head and walked forward to close the distance between them. "Hot damn, I never thought I'd see the day where you would be the one taking shots at her. Nice to see that you're finally growing some balls Ichigo; you even made her blush, isn't that adorable?"

A rock suddenly nailed Kisuke directly in the forehead, and Ichigo turned to see a seething Yoruichi hefting another one into her hand. "Shut up, you idiotic bastard! Don't forget who knows all about your weird little preferences; if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut."

Tossing the rock back down into the dirt, she shot a proud smirk in Ichigo's direction. "He's right though; it's good to see that you finally got the guts to go along with the size of you Zanpakuto. I was always worried whether or not you were overcompensating for something…"

The orange-head snorted. "I assure you, I am not."

The Flash Goddess licked her lips. "Well then, once you return from Soul Society, perhaps you'll be able to prove that to me…"

Despite the brief moment of masculine bravado he'd displayed, Ichigo couldn't help but be taken aback by the ebony woman's blunt statement. A light blush dusted across his cheeks, and he looked away in embarrassment.

Letting out a laugh, Yoruichi turned and made her way back to the ladder, throwing in an extra sway to her hips. "Until next time, my darling student."

Watching completely transfixed as the violet-haired seductress climbed back up into the shop, Ichigo barely noticed Kisuke pulling himself off of the ground.

"Damn woman…" the blond grumbled halfheartedly, before letting out a resigned sigh and clapping his hands together to catch Ichigo's full attention. "Now then, if you are quite done with staring at my childhood friend's admittedly luscious derrière, I suppose we can finally get down to business."

"I wasn't staring…"

"You're a teenager; I'd be worried if you weren't."

Grumbling under his breath, Ichigo ran a hand through his hair and looked around. "So, where's the Senkaimon?"

Kisuke lashed out with his cane and whacked the younger man in the stomach. "Patience is a virtue, as is abstinence from debauchery, I might add. Anyway, before I send you along your merry little way to Soul Society, there is something I would like to do first. Do you have your Combat Pass with you?"

Fishing into his jacket pocket, the orange-head pulled out the aforementioned object and tossed it into the air a few times. "Of course I do."

Faster than the human eye could see, Kisuke snagged the medallion and turned away to observe it. Ichigo blinked at the sudden motion, before leaning forward to try and see what the older man was doing. Barely a minute later, the blond turned back around and held up the Combat Pass, grinning like an idiot. "There, all done!"

The Substitute frowned. "Done with what?"

Kisuke tossed him the medallion. "Shift into your Soul Form."

"This isn't going to blow me up, is it?"

"Stop being a brat, and do what I tell you."

Sighing, Ichigo focused his Spirit Energy into his Combat Pass, and immediately felt the familiar sensation of being ejected from his physical body. Within a fraction of a second, he stood tall and proud in his Shihakusho, with Zangetsu strapped to his back.

Kisuke's grin only served to widen. "Pick up your body."

Rolling his eyes, the orange-head turned to do as instructed, but froze upon seeing that there was nothing there. "It…It's gone!"

The shopkeeper laughed. "Incorrect! I have now modified your Combat Pass in such a way that your physical body will now be stored in a cross-dimensional subspace whenever you need to fight. This means that you will no longer need to find a place to keep your body safe during a battle, since it is technically with you at all times."

Ichigo's eyes widened. "That…That's actually really cool, but how is it even possible?"

Kisuke grinned, chest swelling with pride. "Ichigo, if inventors such as myself stayed content with what we believe to be within the realm of current possibility, then nothing new would ever come into the world. Now then, you said something about heading to Soul Society, right?"

His surprised expression quickly morphing into a grin, the Substitute let out a chuckle. "I guess you're not so bad after all, Hat-n-Clogs."

The blond snorted, walking over to a control panel built into the side of a bolder before pressing a multitude of buttons. Before long, the traditional Japanese doors that led to the realm of the dead materialized out of thin air, before sliding open and revealing a bright light shining from within. "Was there ever any doubt? Now, get in there and have your little party."

Nodding, Ichigo walked forward and crossed through the inter-dimensional gateway. Giving Kisuke a final wave, he turned and began the brief trek along the condensed path of Reishi under his feet. Smiling to himself, he couldn't help but slightly geek out at all of the exciting opportunities that his upgraded Combat Pass would provide him with. If nothing else, it would certainly make chasing Hollows much quicker and easier.

A sudden pulse of energy caught his attention, but it was small enough that Ichigo wasn't too worried.

However, that small pulse quickly became a steady shaking, and to Ichigo's utter horror, the bridge of Reishi behind him began to collapse. Focusing all of his power into his feet, the orange-head shot along the path, attempting to reach the other end of the gateway.

Unfortunately, fate seemed to once again want to give him the middle finger, and the path of Reishi beneath his feet shattered, sending him falling helplessly into the chaotic vortex of Spirit Energy below.

* * *

Bright neon light was the first thing that assaulted his senses.

Bringing a hand up to block the light, Ichigo painfully hauled himself up into a sitting position. Looking around, he immediately became aware that he was in some kind of alleyway, which most likely meant that he was still somewhere within the World of the Living. Soul Society had alleys too, but they were more noticeably rustic.

Rising to his feet and letting out a groan, the orange-head propped himself up against the nearest wall and shuffled towards the end of the alley. Emerging from between the two buildings, he was pleasantly surprised to see that it looked like he was on a regular Japanese street.

People bustled about to and fro, bundled up in heavy winter jackets. Christmas decorations lined the various shops and businesses that he could see, and the general sound of merriment buzzed in the air. Turning his head, Ichigo frowned as his eyes landed upon some rather…oddly dressed…individuals. One young woman had a pair of horns spiraling up through her hair, while another had a tail standing rigidly behind her. Another kid had scales decorating his face, while the woman that must have been his mother smiled through a mouthful of fangs.

Huh…there must have been some kind of cosplay convention in town…

Shaking his head, Ichigo walked out onto the sidewalk, fully expecting to phase completely through the crowds of people. However, to his absolute shock, he collided with a dark-haired woman just as she passed by.

"Hey, watch it asshole!" she snapped, whirling on the Substitute with such a surprising amount of ferocity that Ichigo could only look at her dumbly. "I don't care if you are a Hero, you still need to learn some fucking manners!"

"Uh…sorry?" he apologized weakly.

The young woman continued to glare at him for several more minutes, before she finally let out a huff and walked away.

His eyes still wide in shock, Ichigo turned and looked out at various passersby. Most of them returned his cautious look with friendly smiles, and one young group of children even wished him a Merry Christmas.

They…they could see him…

He was still in his Spirit Form, yet everyone on the street could see him plain as day…

Okay, so he _definitely_ wasn't in the World of the Living, or at least his own version of it. While he wasn't necessarily the sharpest knife in the drawer, Ichigo was still a decently intelligent young man. Therefore, he was able to recall a discussion he'd had with Kisuke shortly after becoming a Substitute Soul Reaper, when he was being told the mechanics behind the Senkaimon and Gargantas. According to the eccentric shopkeeper, due to the fact that that Soul Society and Hueco Mundo were technically situated in alternate points of time and space, the concept of alternate dimensions was not necessarily beyond the realm of possibility.

However, since Soul Society wasn't exactly keen on the idea of exploring other realities, the subject had never been given any amount of credibility. Yamamoto especially disregarded the idea as nothing more than the ravings of a madman.

Walking over to a store, and gazing at himself in the window's reflection, Ichigo frowned and pondered his situation. Admittedly, the conclusion that he'd been dumped in an alternate reality would require a bit more evidence, but the fact that everyone was able to physically interact with him was most definitely contributing to the overall credibility of that assumption.

Maybe…maybe those people he had seen earlier hadn't been wearing costumes…

Turning back around to face the street, the orange-head tapped a passing man on the shoulder. "Excuse me sir, could you tell me the name of this city? I'm new in town, and I haven't really become accustomed to the area."

The man raised a brow. "You traveled to a new city without learning its name? I thought you Heroes were supposed to be sensible…"

Ichigo's patient expression morphed into a scowl. "Just humor me."

"Fine, you're in Musutafu, Japan, just outside of Tokyo." With that, the man shrugged Ichigo off and continued on his way.

Well, that cemented it…

To his knowledge, there was no city or town by that name in the version of Japan that he was familiar with. He was stranded in a world where his family and friends might not even exist, and without any clue as how to open a Senkaimon himself, it looked like he was going to be here for a while.

Most people would undoubtedly start panicking at this point, and although Ichigo was more than a little terrified, if his past experiences had taught him anything, it was to remain calm even in the most stressful of situations. Sucking in a deep breath, the orange-head discreetly ducked out of the flow of traffic and moved into an adjacent alleyway. Taking out his Combat Pass, which he had thankfully managed to hold on to, he quickly reverted back into his physical body and began going through everything he had in his pockets.

He had his wallet, which was filled with the last payment he'd received from Ikumi. However, there was no telling whether or not this version of Japan used the same type of currency as he did back home. He'd definitely have to look into that pretty soon.

He had his driver's license, but considering the possibility that there might not even _be_ anyone named Ichigo Kurosaki in this world, he wasn't sure how much good it would do him.

Aside from that, he had his phone, and he was somehow miraculously able to get a signal. He tried calling his dad, Chad, and Tatsuki, but was always met with no response.

Staggering back against the nearest wall, the Substitute slowly slid down to the ground as the gravity of the situation finally caught up with him in full. He was stranded, possible light years away from home, without any means of getting back. He only had enough in his wallet to afford a few small meals, and although he had his phone, no one in his contact list existed in this world.

Despite his attempts to remain level-headed, Ichigo still felt several tears form in his eyes, and a lump in his throat. "Goddamn it…"

"Uh, hey man…are you okay?"

Blinking in surprise, the orange-head turned in the direction of the voice. Standing in the entrance of the alleyway was a young woman who looked to be no older than he was. Several grocery bags hung from her hands, and she was looking at him with visible concern on her face. She had slightly sun-kissed copper skin, with short black hair that barely scraped her shoulders. She looked fairly tall from where he was sitting, and would most likely come up to just under his eyeline if they were face-to-face. Like the rest of the people he had seen walking about, she was bundled up in a jacket and long pants suitable for the chilly weather.

Raising a hand to wipe his eyes, Ichigo chuckled mirthlessly. "Yeah I'm fine…just got a few pretty major things that I need to sort out."

"Like what?" the girl asked, raising a brow and cocking her head marginally to the side.

Ichigo snorted humorlessly. "Mostly where to go from here…"

"You don't know where to go?"

"I'm not exactly from around here. I don't even know if I'll ever be able to get home."

Frowning, the young woman took several steps in his direction. Ichigo was both impressed and surprised by her apparent boldness when it came to approaching a male stranger in a dimly-lit alleyway. Either she just didn't have any common sense, or she knew herself well enough that she could confidently take care of herself.

When she was only a few feet away from him, she stopped, and leaned against that wall he was sitting against. "Sooooo, you're telling me that you're alone, cold, and have nowhere to go?"

The orange-head coughed uncomfortably and nodded. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

The woman nodded, as if coming to some sort of cosmic conclusion. "Right then, that settles it. Get your ass off that filthy concrete and come with me. You can crash at our place for a while."

Ichigo's jaw fell open. "But…you…you don't even know me!"

She snorted dismissively. "Trust me dude, I've got a nose for liars, and you don't seem to be one. Besides, you're dressed fairly well, which means you aren't too much of a bum, and I'm guessing that you came from a moderately comfortable home."

"But…"

"Are you really trying to turn down a hot meal and a warm bed?" she asked incredulously. "Either you're just a plain idiot, or you're the biggest masochist I've ever seen."

Scowling, Ichigo slowly climbed to his feet. "Alright, fine. Need any help with those bags?"

The young woman raised a brow. "I'm a big girl; I can handle a few groceries."

The Substitute wilted slightly. "I was just trying to be polite."

Her expression slowly morphed into an easy grin. "Relax man; if you're so keen on repaying my generosity, then you can help the old man with dinner once we get home. He could probably use a few extra hands this close to the holidays."

Ichigo returned her smile, and the two of them exited the alleyway and walked down the sidewalk, side by side.

However, the orange-head suddenly realized something important that he'd forgotten. "Oh, by the way, my name is Ichigo. Thanks again for doing this…I don't want to be too much of a bother."

The young woman smirked. "Don't sweat it Berry Boy. Not all of us can be Pro Heroes, but that doesn't mean we can't help each other out now and then."

Filing away the term 'Pro Heroes' for later, Ichigo ignored the typical nickname. "So, does my Good Samaritan have a name of her own?"

"Heh, yeah. I'm Ymir, Ymir Fritz."

* * *

Despite the short amount of time it took for the two of them to reach their destination, Ichigo learned quite a few things about his rescuer.

She was loud, sarcastic, foul-mouthed, and she wasn't the least bit shy in eyeing up nearly every attractive woman that they passed. That being said, he could easily tell that she had a good heart and an honest soul; being a Substitute Soul Reaper allowed him to internally glimpse at that part.

Soon enough, they arrived at what appeared to be a rather homey café.

"Well, this is it," Ymir announced. "Home sweet home, and a well-paying job all rolled into one."

"You live here?" Ichigo asked in slight surprise.

She nodded, and motioned to the set of windows just above the café. "Yeah, there's a little apartment complex right above the shop. It's got everything you really need as far as living luxuries go, and it's all ours."

"You keep talking about 'us' and 'the old man;' just who is this guy?"

"Old Man Yoshimura," Ymir replied, smiling slightly. "In case you couldn't already tell based off of my name and my looks, I'm not a Japanese native. My father was a German, while my mother was a member of the native people of Romania. Let's just say…once they learned about a few of my _preferences,_ they kicked me out of the house."

Ichigo grimaced. "Shit…I'm sorry."

"Don't be!" she laughed, bumping her shoulder against his own jovially. "Papa may have wanted me to marry the neighbor boy, but his older sister was just as good looking! Anyway, one of my aunts lived here in Japan, so I was given enough money to come here and live with her. But, she died a few years ago. That's when one of her longtime friends, Mister Yoshimura, offered to take me in."

"He sounds like a nice guy," the orange-head smiled, finding her enthusiasm to be more than a little infectious.

"Oh, he is," Ymir assured him. "But, he can be just a fierce when he wants to, so I'd recommend trying to stay on his good side as best you can."

Ichigo shuddered, already imagining a Yamamoto-esque figure looming just through the doorway. "Thanks for the warning."

His new acquaintance grinned, before stepping forward and opening the door to the shop. "Hey, Old Man! I'm back, and I brought a new friend!"

The sound of clinking dishes sounded off from within the kitchen just behind the counter, and soon enough, the face of an elderly man poked through the doorway. "Ah, Ymir dear. I'm glad to see that you made it back safely. Did you pick up the flour for the cake?"

Ymir hefted one of her grocery bags up proudly. "Sure did!"

Yoshimura smiled, before finally turning his attention to Ichigo. "And who might you be, young man?"

The orange-head in question opened his mouth to respond, but his new friend quickly beat him to the punch. "This is Ichigo. He ain't from around here, and he has nowhere to go. So, being the amazing and generous chick that I am, I offered him a place to crash for a while; I hope you don't mind."

The elderly man shook his head. "Certainly not; no one should be left out alone in the cold during the holidays. I must warn you though, I do not allow freeloaders to squat for nothing in return."

Ichigo nodded in understanding. "That's good sir, I was honestly going to offer to do some chores anyway. I can cook, clean, and do anything else you need me to do. I don't want to take advantage if your hospitality."

Laughing, Yoshimura stepped out from behind the counter to clap the younger man on the shoulder. "Well said! I can already tell that I'm going to like you. That being said, we don't really have anything that needs to be done at the moment, so why don't you join us upstairs for dinner?"

The Substitute smiled gratefully. "I would be honored, sir."

Nodding, Yoshimura slung one arm around Ichigo's shoulders, while doing the same to Ymir with the other. "Then what are we standing around for? Ymir here can make a mean roasted chicken!"

As it turned out, this claim was most definitely true. Ichigo dug into his meal of chicken, rice, and various other goodies like a man starved for weeks on end. Of course, he had only done this after witnessing his two new housemates doing the same thing. The amount of food Ymir could put away was a little awe-inspiring…

The trio laughed, shared stories, and basically acted like a family.

After dinner had concluded, Ichigo was quick to offer his assistance with washing the dishes, which he could tell Yoshimura greatly appreciated. While the two men did this, Ymir was tasked with vacuuming up any stray crumbs that might have fallen to the floor, which she did without so much as a single complaint.

It honestly felt good, Ichigo quickly realized, to feel useful around the house. He was honestly a little surprised with how easily he had fallen into what felt like a steady rhythm with the café's to long-time occupants. In truth, it didn't feel any different from his own home, minus his idiotic father and perverted stuffed animal of course.

The thought of his family made his heart heavy for a moment, but a quick bump to the shoulder from Ymir easily cheered him back up. It wouldn't do anyone any good for him to lapse back into depression, after all. Soul Society would most likely realize that he was missing soon enough, and between Kisuke and Captain Kurotsuchi, he was fairly confident that they would eventually find a way to reach him.

With the dishes washed, and the floor cleaned, Yoshimura announced that he was heading to bed. Ichigo and Ymir wished him a good night's sleep, before settling on the couch in front of the decently sized television.

"I hope you don't mind sleeping on the couch," the young woman said a little sheepishly. "If we had a guest room, we'd definitely offer it to you."

The orange-head waved her concern off easily. "Ah, don't worry about it; I've had to deal with much rougher conditions than this before. Right now, a couch sounds just as good as a king-sized bed."

Ymir laughed, before picking up the remote and flipping on the TV. The first thing that flashed across the screen was what appeared to be some kind of a news report.

" _Worry not citizens, because I am here!"_

Ichigo blinked at the brightly dressed man on the broadcast. Hell, if his outfit wasn't noticeable enough, then his ridiculous hairstyle definitely was…

Ymir, on the other hand, smiled fondly. "All Might sure is the best of the best, ya know? Wish I could've gone to a Hero Academy…"

The Substitute didn't really know quite how to respond to that without sounding too suspicious. "Yeah…me too."

His new friend shook her head and offered him a grin. "Speaking of which, what can your Quirk do?"

"M-My Quirk?"

"Yeah, your superpower. Don't tell me you're Quirkless…"

"N-No, of course not!" Ichigo laughed nervously. "I, uh…I'm really strong and fast. I can also walk on air."

Ymir's mouth fell open. "You can do _all_ of that?!"

He shrugged. "It's not really that big of a deal."

The brunette shook her head and chuckled. "Damn, I've heard of some people with more than one ability, but you definitely take the cake. You must have inherited all of that from your parents, right?"

Ichigo laughed. She honestly wasn't too far of base with that question. "Yeah, I did. Do you have a Quirk?"

Ymir smiled cheekily. "Why Ichigo, a lady never reveals her secrets to a guy she barely knows. However, I _will_ say that I can heal from normally fatal injuries."

Raising a brow, and realizing that there was obviously more that she wasn't telling him, the Substitute decided to let the topic go. One thing was for sure though, he needed to find a computer as soon as he possibly could and do an absolutely _absurd_ amount of research concerning these 'Quirks' and 'Pro Heroes.'

He certainly wasn't in Karakura Town anymore…

* * *

 **And there we have it.**

 **Obviously, this version of the story will go at a far slower pace than its predecessor. Ichigo won't become a teacher for quite some time, and I will be putting more effort into depicting his integration into this new world. It might seem like he is adapting far too quickly to everything that is happening to him, but I have always viewed Ichigo as someone who is able to roll with the flow when under pressure. He is most definitely having internal struggles, but he is trying not to visibly show that.**

 **He needs to try and blend in, after all.**

 **In regards to Ymir, I suppose her character change isn't as obvious as I might have made it sound in the beginning Author's Notes. As far as this story is concerned, she is pansexual instead of a lesbian. And, before anyone decides to give me crap for changing that part of her, keep in mind that authors do the same thing to canonically established heterosexual characterizers all of the time. She still likes girls, and I didn't want to simply make her bisexual, so this is the path that I chose to pursue in order to depict a slightly broader range of representation.**

 **I also want to accurately depict the hardships that Ymir's sexuality would force her to endure in society, so if anyone would like to anonymously send me a PM offering advice in that regard, then please feel free to do so.**

 **Now then, I will be posting a notice on the original version of this story to alert everyone of the updated version. After about a week or two, I will then delete the original story.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter, and I also hope that you will stick around for the remainders.**

 **After this, I will be updating my Ichigo/Yoruichi fic: "The Song of Our Nature."**

 **Then, I will be moving on to "Desires of the Heart" and "Bloodstained Souls." Feel free to check them out if you feel like it.**

 **Until next time!**

 **AlucardsBro OUT!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Universal Calling

* * *

 **Hello everyone, AlucardsBro finally here once again with the second chapter!**

 **As I mentioned in a few of my other stories, I have recently had to put a good majority of my writing time on hold in favor of studying for final exams. Thankfully though, winter break is now here, and I can devote more time to actually putting words to paper.**

 **That aside, I was not surprised by the mixed reception this new story received, what with some people clinging faithfully to the original version, and others praising my obvious improvement with writing overall. However, as I told myself when coming up with the plot for this new story, I don't just do this for you guys, but myself as well. I have a story to tell, and this time I won't let a few negative reviews stop me from finishing it.**

 **Oh, and just to clear up any possible confusion, both Ichigo and Ymir are currently seventeen at this point in the story.**

 **Now then, let's get on with the show!**

 **AlucardsBro OUT!**

* * *

"Order up! Ichigo, take this to table five will you?"

"Sure thing, old man," the orange-head replied, snatching the plate of dango and hot coffee off of the opening separating the kitchen from the rest of the café. Yoshimura laughed good-naturedly at the young man's jab, before waving him off to finish up with the rest of their orders.

Carefully balancing the plates and mugs along his hand and lower arm, Ichigo maneuvered through the multitude of busy tables to his immediate customers.

It had been approximately a week and a half since he had fallen into the void of the Senkaimon and ended up in this strange, if oddly familiar, new world. In that time, he had come to learn that this world had some very noticeable differences compared to the one he was familiar with…most notably the existence of 'Quirks.' Quirks were basically individual superpowers that the good majority of the planetary population possessed, and each Quirk varied from person to person.

One individual might simply have an additional appendage, while another might be able to influence the very tectonic plates of the Earth. Ichigo found it rather amusing that some people were born with Quirks that were all but useless in combat situations, yet others had powers that literally made them gods in human form…

Speaking of which, another thing that made this world different than his own was the fact that there were certain people running around who were officially classified as Professional Heroes. These heroes were each apparently given permission by the government to use their powers to help common people, and almost all of them were held in high esteem by the masses, especially the guy called 'All Might.'

However, despite the fact that Ichigo was all for the existence of these heroes and the cause that they represented, he was most certainly _not_ a fan of the idea that they had to have governmental permission to use their powers to help people. Helping people should come as an immediate response, regardless of whether or not people say you should interfere…

That being said, he could understand the need to keep particular Quirks under constant supervision. All Might, from what he had seen online and through the television, was physically powerful enough to possibly be able to put up a fight against a high-seat Lieutenant, or perhaps even a low-level Captain. However, the orange-head sincerely doubted that the so-called Symbol of Peace would ever dream of turning to a life of crime; he seemed like the kindest and most morally-driven person that Ichigo had ever seen.

Shaking his head to get his mind back on his current task, the young man quickly put on his 'work smile' as he approached table five. Yoshimura had firmly hammered it into his head that his typical personality was a bit off-putting to potential customers, and as such he needed to be much more amiable and charming. "Morning guys," he greeted the table of high school aged girls, placing the plates of dango in front of each of them. "Does everything look like it came out okay?"

They giggled amongst themselves, and almost all of them turned to one girl in particular, who happened to be seated closest to Ichigo at the edge of the table. "Y-Yeah, it all looks delicious. Thanks, Ichigo…"

The orange-head's smile widened, which in turn prompted the young girl to redden and look away, much to the amusement of her friends.

Hmmm…chicks could be so weird…

"All right then, let me know if you guys need anything else. I'll be sure to tell the old man you appreciate his cooking," he said, bowing once politely before turning to walk away. Almost immediately, the table of girls began to once again giggle uncontrollably.

The Substitute's smile quickly dropped back into his typical scowl, and he quickly maneuvered through the tables once again and back toward the sales counter, where Ymir was giving him a truly pitying expression.

"What the hell is that face for?" he snorted, coming to stand next to her.

"Oh please," she grinned, rolling her eyes. "Those chicks were totally giving you the 'fuck me' eyes."

Ichigo choked on air, his eyes going wide and face turning a dark red. "E-excuse me?!"

The brunette cocked a brow. "Come on. You know; the 'fuck me senpai' eyes? That one girl in particular definitely looked like she wanted you to pull her to her feet, rip off her skirt, and go to tow-"

"Oh, can you not?" the Substitute groaned, running a hand down his face in exasperation.

Ymir laughed, bumping her shoulder against his own. "Oh come on, don't be such a fucking virgin."

Ichigo opened his mouth to retort, but the bell hanging over the entrance to the café suddenly chimed, signaling the arrival of a new customer. Glancing at the door, the orange-head frowned upon realizing that the young woman who made her way through the entrance towards an unoccupied table wasn't someone he recognized.

Despite the fact that he wasn't really the most sociable of people, Ichigo had genuinely attempted to try and become familiar with all of the café's usual patrons. Both Yoshimura and Ymir had told him that knowing your customers on a personal level was a good way to get them to come back, which meant more tips for him. The blonde sitting by the window, however, was not someone who he had ever seen in the shop before.

She looked to be around the same age as Ymir and himself, if perhaps a year or two older, with slightly sun-kissed skin and rich golden eyes. A pair of slightly tattered blue jeans adorned her legs, while a simple white shirt and black sweatshirt covered her upper half. There was also a rosy-pink beanie sitting comfortably atop her head.

"Hey Ymir," Ichigo said, turning to address his friend, "it looks like you've got a new…Ymir?"

The brunette had seemingly disappeared into thin air…

Looking around in confusion, the orange-head noticed that the double doors leading into the kitchen were slowly swinging to a halt, indicating that someone had just passed through them. Frowning, he pushed his way into the kitchen, looking for his coworker, who he finally spotted hiding between the refrigerator and dishwasher.

"What the hell are you doing?" the Substitute asked in bewilderment. "You've got a customer."

His friend refused to meet his eyes. "W-Would y-you mind taking t-this one?"

"But she's sitting on your side of the café."

" _Please_ Ichigo," the foreign girl pleaded, finally raising her head. Her breath was shaky, and her entire face was an atomic shade of red from the roots of her hair to the base of her neck.

Ichigo blinked in surprise, before subtly casting a glance in Yoshimura's direction. The older man seemed just as concerned as he.

"Hey…" the orange-head whispered softly, kneeling down to be eye-level with his friend. "Are you okay?"

Ymir wrapped her arms around her knees and slightly shrunk in on herself. "I'm f-fine…"

"You don't look fine," he retorted. "Did that girl ever hurt you? Want me to go kick her out?"

"NO!" the brunette suddenly shouted, surprising Ichigo to such a degree that he toppled over onto his ass. "N-No…she's never hurt me…it's just…I…"

"You like her?" the orange-head supplied, pushing himself back up into a crouching position.

Ymir merely nodded.

Yoshimura suddenly coughed, drawing Ichigo's attention. "We're nearly done for the morning anyway…Ymir, due to the fact that you appear to be in no condition to continue working, I'm giving you permission to head back up to the apartment. Ichigo, would you terribly mind covering her for the final hour?"

"Yeah, sure," the young man nodded, before turning back to Ymir. "You gonna be okay?"

She nodded, before looking up and smiling hesitantly. "Y-Yeah, just give me a bit…"

Patting her shoulder comfortingly, Ichigo stood up and scooped up a notepad, before heading back into the main area of the café while Yoshimura helped Ymir to her feet.

Walking through the tables and approaching the blonde young woman, even _his_ heart thudded slightly when she turned and offered him a beautiful smile. "Good morning," she greeted politely. "Is Ymir well? I thought that this was her section?"

"Ah, yeah," the orange-head replied. "She's just feeling a bit under the weather. The old man gave her the rest of the day off."

The girl's brow creased in obvious concern. "How unfortunate…I was hoping that the two of us could finish our discussion. I don't get to come here very often, you see. My studies often occupy a good majority of my time, and I am forced to settle for the meals sold in convenience stores closer to my school."

Ichigo chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I hear that. Back when I was still in school, I had to snatch whatever snacks I could find."

She laughed, bringing a hand up to her mouth. And wasn't _that_ a melodious sound?"

"Too true," she giggled.

The orange-head grinned, before realizing that he still had yet to take her order. "Ah crap, sorry. What can I get for you?"

She shook her head and waved off his apology. "Don't worry about it, I enjoy making conversation with new people; I would like a simple coffee with a bit of cream and sugar. Nothing more, please."

He nodded, jotting down the request onto his notepad. "Sure thing…can I get a name for the order?"

She smiled. "Ryuko…Ryuko Tatsuma."

* * *

Ichigo stared directly ahead at the television in the living room, desperately attempting to ignore the deathly glare being directed at the side of his head.

Ymir was sitting next to him on the couch, and she had yet to remove her gaze from him ever since the morning shift had ended. He had no idea what he'd done to earn her ire, but whatever it was, being on the end of her anger was getting old rather fast.

"Is there something I can help you with?" he finally asked, letting out a resigned sigh and turning to face his friend.

Her eyes only narrowed. "You were flirting with Ryuko…"

Ichigo snorted incredulously. "You call _that_ flirting? All we did was talk. She introduced herself, asked about you, and then placed her order. Then, when I brought it out to her, she thanked me, and I left to take care of the other customers…nothing more."

The brunette blinked in surprise. "She asked about me?"

"Yeah she…wait a minute! If you two have been talking up until now, then why did you pick today to finally chicken out?!" the orange-head shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

Ymir snarled, before rearing back and slamming her forehead directly into Ichigo's. "Why do ya think?! I was the only server in the café until you showed up, so I didn't have a choice!"

The Substitute pushed against his housemate with an equal amount of force, matching her heated glare with one just as fierce. "So, that's it huh? You're too afraid to talk to her, so you're gonna avoid her like a pansy?!"

"What the fuck did you just call me Berry Boy?!"

"You heard me!"

"Bring it on asshole!" Ymir finally howled, tackling Ichigo off of the back of the couch, sending both of them tumbling across the floor in a tangle of various limbs, body parts, and vulgar insults. They continued wrestling across the carpet until finally a sharp voice cut through the air like a white-hot knife.

"That's enough, both of you!" Yoshimura shouted firmly, having emerged from his room to investigate the commotion. "If the two of you are going to insist on acting like animals, then I may as well put you to work like them as well." Walking back into his room for a moment, the elderly man quickly returned with a piece of paper. "Here, this is a list of ingredients we need for a special order I just received. I would have gone to the store myself, but seeing as how neither of you have anything better to do aside from antagonizing each other, I doubt you'll mind going in my stead," he said, dropping the list on top of the entangled teenagers.

With that, he gave both of them one final firm glare before retreating once again into his room.

Ichigo and Ymir shared a quick glance.

"Sorry about head-butting you…" the brunette grumbled halfheartedly.

"Sorry about insinuating you are an enormous pussy…" the Substitute snorted.

She barked out a laugh, and soon enough Ichigo joined in. The previous hostility between them evaporated into thin air as if it had never existed in the first place.

"Just do me one favor, though?" Ymir chuckled.

"What?" Ichigo replied.

"Can you please let go of my boob? As much as I enjoy a good grope session every now and then, this is starting to get uncomfortable."

The orange-head froze, his eyes _slowly_ trailing away from his friend's face and down towards her chest. And indeed, his right hand was still firmly grasping her left breast, having landed there during their tussle. _Ripping_ his appendage away as if it were on fire, Ichigo launched himself off of Ymir, nearly across the entirety of the living room.

"S-Sorry!" he blurted.

The brunette simply sat up and offered him a curious look. "Gee, good to know that I repulse you that much…"

"That's not what I meant!"

"Oh relax, will you?" she grinned, pushing herself to her feet. "I'm just busting your balls man. I know I'm a hot piece of ass, and you'd be damn lucky to ever get a piece of me."

Grumbling obscenities and curses under his breath, Ichigo accepted the outstretched hand his housemate offered him. Hauling the orange-head to his feet, Ymir gave him a condescending pat on the cheek before bending down to pick up the list Yoshimura had left for them.

"Come on," she said, stepping away towards the coatrack and grabbing her jacket. "The old man will get pissed if we don't hurry up and hustle out of here. Trust me, you don't want to be around for that."

The Substitute nodded.

He had already seen what happened when Yoshimura got _mildly_ irritated…being on the end of his full wrath would most likely be just as poor of an idea as intentionally pissing off Yamamoto…

Grabbing his own coat, which he had thankfully survived the trip through the Senkaimon, he pulled in on and followed Ymir out the front door and down the stairs leading to the café.

* * *

"You got the flour?"

"Yep."

"And the eggs?"

"Yep."

"What about the-"

"Yes, I made sure to get everything," Ichigo finally snapped. "I even checked the list three times. Maybe if you'd bothered to help me instead of trying to score with the sales clerk…"

"Eh, it can't be helped," Ymir shrugged, hefting one of their bags over her shoulder. "She was a real cutie. And did you see the size of her rack?"

The orange-head sighed. "It astounds me that I have met guys with more class than you…"

"Hey!" she snapped. "I can be classy when I damn well want to!"

"Then why flirt with a random girl when you obviously like Ryuko?"

The brunette stilled momentarily, and Ichigo briefly wondered if he'd gone too far. Finally, Ymir let out a sigh.

"Ryuko…she's…well…have you ever known someone so incredible that you know for sure there would never be a chance in a million years you could get together? Someone so perfect, so beautiful, so incredibly kind, that they're entire lightyears out of your league?" she asked, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

Ichigo paused for a moment to think. There had never been any girl in particular that he'd ever been madly smitten with, but there had certainly been an abundance of women from both the Soul Society, the World of the Living, and even Hueco Mundo that were quite clearly out of his league.

Nelliel, Yoruichi, and Rangiku immediately came to mind. He never had actually held strong romantic feelings for any of them, but even he, who was as dense as a boulder when it came to romance, knew that they were extraordinarily beautiful women.

"Yeah," he finally replied. "I guess I have."

"Then maybe you can understand," Ymir sighed, facing forward again. "Ryuko is _my_ unobtainable treasure, so why bother pursuing something I know I can never have?"

The orange-head frowned. "I wouldn't say that…when I talked to her, it was pretty obvious that she at least considers you her friend. She seemed genuinely worried about you when I told her you were sick."

The brunette merely smiled softly and shook her head. "That's just how she is. Ryuko cares for everyone around her, no matter where they come from or who they are. She's even studying to become a Pro Hero so that she can help people even more than she already does…and that girl volunteers at every damn animal shelter and children's hospital in the city."

Ichigo's brow furrowed.

It was clear that Ymir had already cemented the idea that a potential relationship between Ryuko and herself would never happen, but from what he had both heard and seen earlier, the blonde woman obviously cared for his housemate a great deal. Ymir was simply too down on herself to realize that…

Opening his mouth to respond, the orange-head's attention was suddenly caught by a large group of people further down the street. There were several police cars and armored trucks positioned outside one of the skyscrapers, and the entire area appeared to have been closed off for several dozen feet.

"Wonder what's going on?" Ymir mused, a slight hint of worry permeating her tone.

Ichigo silently agreed.

Normally, ordinary robberies involving somewhat powerful Quirk users could be handled by a fairly small group of officers and one or two Professional Heroes. However, there were at least two dozen policemen present and over six of the Pros. Whatever was happening, it didn't look very good at all.

"Come on, let's go check it out," he suggested.

Ymir nodded in agreement, and the two teenagers quickly made their way down the street towards the commotion. Pushing their way to the front of the crowd, which was most definitely not an easy task, they came to a stop just in front of the police barricade.

"What the hell is going on?" Ichigo asked, turning to address the scaly man next to him.

He received a shrug in response. "The cops are trying to keep the situation under wraps, but from what I've been able to hear, there's a group of about three Villains inside, and I guess they're strong enough to merit caution. They've only got five hostages, but apparently three of them are from some big-name family."

"Are they asking for random money?" Ymir questioned.

"No, and that's the weird thing ain't it?" the reptilian man responded. "It seems like all they want it to get away with the rich folks. Can't imagine why though, since the cops have offered them several cash deals to let 'em go."

"Why aren't the Heroes doing anything?" Ichigo frowned.

"They tried to get in, but the Villains are on the top floor, and they've got a guy ready to bring the building down on top of everyone if anyone steps foot inside. They've already called All Might and Endeavor, but they're both still several minutes away."

The Substitute's eyes hardened. Turning to Ymir, he held out the shopping bags in his hands. "Take these for a minute…I'll be right back."

The brunette frowned.

"You better not be doing what I think you are," she whispered quietly. "You don't have a Hero License."

"I shouldn't need one to help people," the orange-head retorted, dropping his bags in her arms before pushing his way back out through the crowd.

Reaching into his jacket pocket, his hand firmly grasped his Combat Pass. Pressing the medallion against his chest, Ichigo was almost instantly bathed in the familiar sensation of being ejected from his physical body and transferred into his Spiritual Form.

However, as he turned around to check if his body had disappeared as Kisuke said it would, he was pleased to see that this had indeed been the case.

Man, he would really need to thank Hat-n-Clogs for the upgrade if he ever actually saw him again…

Tucking the Pass into his Shihakusho, the Substitute utilized a few quick bursts of Shunpo to speed through the air towards the top floor of the building, his movements being far too fast for the crowd below to see. As quietly as possible, he entered through a door on the roof, and made his way down a short flight of stairs, which in turn led to a long hallway with numerous doors positioned on either side. One on the far right side was already slightly ajar, and Ichigo could roughly make out a few voices coming from within the room itself.

"Look man, it ain't that fucking hard!" a gruff, clearly frustrated voice shouted. "Just give me the access codes to your account, and you can all go on your merry fucking way! Not many people would let their hostages go as easily as I am, you know!"

A muffled thud sounded from the room, followed by sharp coughing and wheezing.

Someone had just been struck…

A woman's sobs also hung in the air, but they in turn were muffled by those of a child.

"I already told you…" a new, pained voice wheezed. "I _can't_ give you access here. My accountant and I each have a set of codes that need to be manually input into a number series, along with both of our fingerprints. Seeing as how he isn't here…it looks like you're out of luck."

The original voice curse loudly, and a series of thuds quickly followed. Ichigo presumed that he was most likely physically taking his anger out on the second man who had spoken.

"Please stop!" a woman's voice pleaded. "There's nothing that we can do! Just let us go!"

"You know what? Fuck it," the original voice finally said. "If you're so intent on telling me that I wasted all of my time planning this heist for nothing, then I guess we'll just have to get our compensation some other way. Boys, take the whore into the other room and do whatever the fuck you want with her."

Dark chuckles quickly followed, accompanied by the sound of the woman's increased screaming.

"Hey Ryujin, what about the brat?" one of the Villains asked.

The leader, presumably the one named Ryujin, scoffed dismissively. "I don't fuckin' know…throw her off the roof for all I care."

The woman's screams intensified even more, as did the child's sobs.

The man who had been beaten, who was also presumably the husband and father of the woman and child respectively, weakly attempted to protest, but another thud indicated that Ryujin had once again taken to beating him out of frustration.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed. Time to make a move.

Swiping a hand over his face, he conjured up his Hollow Mask. From what he'd learned about this world in the past week, most Heroes and government officials didn't particularly appreciate it when random people attempted to use their powers in a combat situation without proper permission.

It would be best to keep his face hidden as well as possible.

He had never been particularly good at sensing the Spiritual Energy of others, and he was even worse at controlling the outflow of his own. However, even he could detect the five bodies positioned on the floor. Easily identifiable as the hostages.

One of the bodies was lying motionless; presumably the man who had been beaten.

Another two, one regular sized and the other significantly smaller, were being pulled away from one another by one of the Villains. They were easily the woman and child.

The final two hostages were motionless, but Ichigo could sense that they were simply unconscious.

Taking a death breath, the orange-head carefully raised his own Spiritual Pressure, allowing it to flood out from his body and cascade into every room and hallway throughout the building. However, he was careful enough to concentrate on keeping the hostages from feeling the full brunt of the effects.

Each of the three Villains in the room let out sudden cries of shock, followed by the sounds of bodies roughly hitting the floor. Satisfied, Ichigo finally walked forward and into the room, while at the same time making sure to keep up the pressure.

The five hostages, as he'd hoped, were mostly unaffected by his outflow of power. The three that were still conscious did look mildly ill, but there wasn't really anything else he could do to fix that without completely lifting his Spiritual Energy.

" **Are you alright?"** he asked, turning to the woman, who was clutching a little girl tightly against her chest. The orange-head made certain to keep his voice as calm and comforting as he could; although this wasn't exactly his specialty, he knew that the poor woman had definitely been through enough stress in the past few minutes to last her several months.

She nodded, clearly still shaken from the experience.

Ichigo smiled reassuringly for a brief moment, even though she couldn't see it, before turning his attention to the Villains still pressed firmly against the floor. **"You know, there are a lot of qualities that I hate in certain people,"** he said, disgust and anger permeating every word. **"But out of all of the kinds of people I hate…rapists and murderers are at the top of my list. And, unfortunately for you, you were about to do both."**

"Screw you!" one of the Villains, a blond man, sneered. He possessed the same voice as the man who had first spoken, meaning that he was most likely the one called Ryujin. "Who the hell do you think you are, coming in here like this? We told the cops that no one was gonna interfere, or we'd bring the building down!"

" **Yeah, and look how well that's turned out for you,"** Ichigo snorted sarcastically, before reaching over his shoulder and drawing Zangetsu.

Each of the criminals visibly paled at the sight of the massive sword, and even the woman holding her daughter let out a sharp gasp and scooted several feet away.

"Heh, you ain't going to kill me," Ryujin sneered, regaining enough face to attempt to look tough in front of his cronies. "Even with that creepy-ass mask, you're obviously a Hero, coming in here and subduing the bad guys so the hostages can get away…and even I know that Heroes don't kill."

" **Me, a Hero?"** Ichigo hummed thoughtfully, allowing his eyes to run over his Zanpakuto's blade. **"No…I don't really think so. I'm the type of guy who just does what I feel is right, even if everyone else doesn't. I don't like hurting people, but even I know that sometimes things need to get messy in order to make sure innocent people can live more securely."**

With that said, he roughly stabbed the tip of Zangetsu's blade into the concrete only mere inches from Ryujin's rapidly paling face.

"You wouldn't…" the blond man said weakly.

" **Correction. I will, but I don't want to. What happens now is entirely dependent on your next course of action,"** Ichigo replied impassively.

Ryujin swallowed nervously, before opening his mouth once again to speak.

However, before a single syllable could be uttered, the entire building suddenly shook. Dust fell from the ceiling, and cracks began to spread along the walls and floor.

The Substitute whirled around, his eyes landing on one of the supposedly subdued Villains he had neglected to pay proper attention to. The brown-haired man, a well-muscled fellow with thick metal chains wrapped around his wrists as some weird kind of jewelry, had a hand pressed firmly against the floor.

"Richter! What the fuck are you doing?!" Ryujin howled, attempting to thrash around and free himself from the effects of Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure.

"You said to bring the building down if anyone got inside!" the man in question shouted back.

"Not with us still inside of it, you moron!" the blond man snarled. "Phantos, get us out of here!"

The third Villain, a sickly-looking man, shook his head. "I can't! This guy is doing something that's interrupting my phasing!"

Another shake rocked the structure, followed by the screams coming from the crowd outside. The building was collapsing…

Cursing, Ichigo prepared to lift his power and get everyone to safety. It would take several trips; even in his Spiritual form he only had so many hands to carry people. Despite his earlier bluff, he wasn't going to sit back and allow the Villains to die either. The building began to tilt to the side, and the orange-head prepared to leap into action.

However, a sudden flash of blinding orange light from outside nearly blinded him. Bringing up an arm to shield his eyes, Ichigo grit his teeth and wracked his brain. It was the middle of the goddamn day! How the hell was there lightning flashing around outside?!

Was it someone's Quirk?

Had another Hero finally come to offer their aid? Or had another Villain come to interfere?

Something impacted the side of the building…something _large._ The sound of glass and concrete shattering like toothpicks grew closer and closer, and the orange-head readied himself into a battle stance.

Without warning, an absolutely _enormous_ set of brown eyes peeked through the windows. They sat in pools of black sclera, which in turn were set in a somewhat sunken-in face with a mop of messy back hair and razor-sharp teeth.

Preparing to defend both himself and everyone else in the room, Ichigo nearly dropped his blade in shock when the giant creature suddenly spoke in a deep, raspy voice.

" **Jesus fucking Christ…I leave you alone for five minutes and you're already bringing down a building? What the hell would you do without me?"** it said, eyes firmly locked on Ichigo.

The Substitute's eyes slowly widened in realization. **"Y-Ymir?!"**

The giant scoffed. **"No…it's Paul Bunyan. Of course it's me, you idiot!"**

The orange-head's eyes narrowed at the insult. **"Well excuse the hell out of me for not recognizing you! It's not every day that a five-meter-tall monster climbs up the side of a building, looks through the window, and starts criticizing me!"**

Ymir snarled irritably, the sound coming out as deep and rumbling. Her eyes snapped from her housemate to the rest of the individuals in the room, each of whom were staring at her in varying degrees of shock and horror. Even the Villains were doing so.

" **Hey, morons!"** she snapped. **"Wanna live? Then climb on; this thing ain't going to be standing for much longer."**

Indeed, the top half of the building was already leaning to one side, and the bottom section was growing weaker and weaker each minute under the strain.

Turning to the group of hostages, Ichigo ushered them forward. **"You heard her, get on!"**

After a brief moment of hesitance, the woman picked up her child and quickly walked forward, before carefully climbing up Ymir's shoulder and gripping several locks of the giantess' hair. The three Villains quickly did the same, but not before Ichigo strong-armed them into carrying the two unconscious hostages with them.

The orange-head walked over to help the man who'd been beaten up, but a sudden shake wracked the building again. Ymir roared out a curse and gripped the side of the structure with her taloned hands and feet, finding a stable footing.

Unfortunately, the woman sitting on her shoulder was too surprised by the event to properly do the same, and her daughter fell from her arms and into the open air.

"No!" she screamed, reaching out to grab the child. However, gravity had already pulled the little girl well out of her mother's reach, and she continued to freefall towards the pavement hundreds of feet below.

Ichigo cursed, and quickly faced Ymir. " **Can you get this guy?!"**

The giantess gave a single nod, and reached forward with a massive hand to pick up the injured man.

The orange-head didn't even stick around to observe anything aside from her nod, and he dived out of the open widow and into the air, using burst after burst of Shunpo to catch up with the freefalling child.

About three of four-hundred feet before she impacted the ground, Ichigo finally wrapped her in his arms and slammed his feet against the condensed Reishi platform he'd managed to create. The impact definitely hurt, and he felt something jar painfully in each of his legs, but the Substitute still let out a relieved sigh as the sobbing girl fearfully clutched at his Shihakusho.

Ymir quickly climbed down the collapsing building with all of the other individuals in tow, and landed several dozen feet away as the structure finally crashed to the ground, kicking up an enormous cloud of dust.

Panting for breath, Ichigo looked down to check his catch for injuries.

" **Are you okay?"** he asked.

The girl nodded timidly.

" **What's your name?"**

"M-Momo…Momo Yaoyorozu…"

Ichigo ruffled her hair reassuringly. **"Alright then Momo, let's get you back to your mom."**

She smiled at that, snuggling up against his robes and nodding happily. The orange-head was honestly quite surprised that she wasn't absolutely terrified by his voice and mask, but then again, he _had_ just saved her from certain death.

Shrugging it off, he gently lowered them to the ground, before walking over to where the police were already helping the hostages down off of Ymir. Approaching Momo's mother, who was quite obviously relieved beyond description, he gently handed the little girl off. Mother and daughter hugged each other tightly, and the man who had been beaten earlier by Ryujin, now quite obvious as Momo's father, quickly limped over to rejoice with the rest of his family.

The three villains were already being loaded into an armored car, and the area around which the building had collapsed was being sectioned off by the remaining officers to prevent any further injury.

Ymir subtly shuffled closer to her housemate, still in her giant form. **"We need to scram while we still can…"** she hissed nervously. **"We don't have the clearance to be using our Quirks like we just did…"**

" **Just act natural,"** Ichigo whispered back, waving as several members of the crowd began to applaud for both Ymir and himself. **"I'll think of something."**

He continued to wave to the crowd, with Ymir awkwardly doing the same with a single massive hand. Suddenly, a boom echoed from further down the street, kicking up a cloud of dust and catching the attention of everyone in the area. Several officers drew their weapons in preparation, and several of the Pro Heroes on the scene looked ready for a brawl.

However, an extremely boisterous laugh sounded off from within the dust cloud, and the tense atmosphere evaporated almost immediately. As the dust cleared, a towering blond man wearing a red, white, and blue suit emerged, and the crowd started to cheer once again in earnest.

"Fear not citizens, because I am here!" All Might declared passionately, placing his fists on his hips and striking a truly heroic pose.

All of the news cameras on the street quickly turned away from Ichigo and Ymir and instead focused on the Symbol of Peace, who had quickly begun asking everyone in the crowd if they were alright.

The orange-head swore. **"Oh…"**

" **Shit…"** Ymir finished. **"We need to leave** _ **now;**_ **neither of us can stop All Might from taking us in!"**

That wasn't necessarily true…Ichigo was confident that he could soundly defeat the Number One Hero if need be, but doing so on live television and in front of an enormous crowd wouldn't be good for any reputation he might hope to build in the future.

Unfortunately, All Might quickly finished up with checking on the civilians, before heading straight towards the nervous duo. "Well done!" he praised loudly, "well done indeed! I commend you both for your acts of heroism! You have saved quite a few lives today; you should both feel quite proud of yourselves."

Ymir whimpered, shuffling back and forth on her knuckles.

Ichigo laughed nervously. **"Yeah well…we just did what we felt like needed to be done, ya know?"**

The Pro Hero laughed, slapping Ichigo on the back so hard that it took every ounce of control he possessed to not fly face-first into the street. Holy shit! This guy really was strong!

"Indeed, I do!" All Might smiled, before his face gained a far more serious expression. "However, I cannot say that I recognize the two of you. I try my very best to keep as up to date with all of the newer heroes as I can, but sometimes a few manage to slip my notice. Who are you?"

" **Uh, well…"** the Substitute wracked his brain for a suitable name. **"I'm Zangetsu, and my friend is Jötunn…"**

Ymir snorted.

All Might arched a brow. "Those are fine names…but I hope you can understand my need to be cautious. There has been increased illegal Quirk usage lately, and the Hero Association is trying its best to keep everything under control. Would you mind showing me your licenses?"

Ichigo swallowed thickly.

Ymir growled warily from behind him.

The Number One Hero's smile grew slightly forced. "I see…I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask the two of you to come with me. I would advise you to cooperate and not cause a scene."

The orange-head chuckled a bit nervously. **"Well, the funny thing is that I have to go to work tomorrow, and I know that my boss would be pissed if I didn't show up on time. So, sorry, but I don't think we're gonna be able to do that…"**

All Might frowned. "If you are unwilling to come peacefully, then I will have no choice but to treat you both as Villains. Think carefully; is that what you want?"

Ichigo's grip on Zangetsu's hilt tightened. " **Not at all…but I don't think there's going to be any other options, is there?"**

"I'm afraid not," the blond man said regrettably, before cocking a fist back faster than a normal person could see. Launching his hand forward with an even greater amount of speed, the Pro Hero attempted to grab the front of Ichigo's Shihakusho.

A metallic clang echoed throughout the area, and a mildly strong wind buffeted along the street, forcing the onlookers to shield their eyes.

All Might, however, looked on in nothing but absolute shock. His attempt to detain the young man had been easily blocked by the flat of the orange-head's massive blade.

'That's…incredible. His speed and reaction time are on par with my own,' the Number One Hero thought to himself. 'I may not have been using the full force of my power, but it was still enough to be far beyond the normal capabilities of a regular individual…or even that of an experienced Quirk user.'

" **Like I said…I've got places to be,"** Ichigo snarked, and even All Might could tell that the boy was smirking behind his mask.

A sudden burst of steam erupted from Ymir, blanketing the area in a cloud of white haze. All Might covered his face with a hand in case the gas was toxic, and leapt back several dozen feet. Snapping his fingers, the force generated from the action was enough to almost immediately dispel all of the steam.

However, the mask-wearing young man was already long gone, and the massive form of his companion had a gaping hole in its back. The creature's body was already decomposing, so it was quite clear that the actual person controlling the massive form was no longer present either.

Frowning slightly, the Number One Hero quickly surveyed the area. The Villains responsible for the earlier commotion were already detained, and medical professionals were assisting the hostages.

He didn't necessarily agree with the concept of arresting anyone who used their Quirk in public without proper documentation. He, better than anyone, knew that there were some moments in a person's life where they simply reacted without thinking, and rushed into a perilous situation with the intent of helping as much as they could.

However, as much as he respected that trait, All Might still had to keep up appearances and enforce the law as the Symbol of Peace.

He could not afford to be lenient…no matter how much as he wanted to.

* * *

 **And there we go.**

 **I'm not entirely satisfied with the ending, but I'm too exhausted at the moment to really do anything else about it. The quality will pick back up with the next chapter, I promise.**

 **Anyway, Ichigo and Ymir have had their first encounter with All Might, and although things didn't really go down as well as any of them would have hoped, they at least know that they each have the best intentions for the people at heart. As stated in the** _ **MHA**_ **anime and manga, All Might doesn't necessarily believe that everyone who uses their powers without proper permission should be punished, but he still has to enforce the law.**

 **Like he told Midoriya, there are some times in your life when you simply feel an unexplainable urge to jump in and help people, regardless of whether or not you are supposed to.**

 **That aside, we were also introduced to a few other familiar faces; namely Momo and Ryukyu. And yes, Ymir has incredibly strong feeling for the latter.**

 **I'm fairly confident that we have all had a crush on someone at one point or another where we were simply too enthralled with them to believe it would ever work out. That is what Ymir is experiencing; she doesn't believe she will ever be good enough for someone like Ryuko. Those of you who read the manga know that she is a kindhearted and humble person, while Ymir is rude, outspoken, and loud.**

 **And as for Momo, she is six-years-old at this point, and I do believe that this incident will have a lasting effect on her as a character throughout the rest of this story.**

 **Speaking of ages, someone recently brought up the point that it would be ridiculous to have Ichigo become a professor at his current age, since he is in fact only seventeen. Well…** _ **duh.**_

 **The first handful of chapters will focus on properly integrating Ichigo into this new world, and then there will be a time skip of several years that will deposit all of our favorite characters at the beginning of the** _ **MHA**_ **series. I won't reveal how much of a time gap the skip will cover just yet, but it will make sense and feel satisfactory when it does occur.**

 **And yes, I have already chosen Ichigo's romantic partner for this story, but I will not reveal who she is until quite a few more chapters have come out. Let's just say that she is easily my favorite adult female character from the** _ **MHA**_ **universe.**

 **Well then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, even if it only served to set the stage for future events.**

 **AlucardsBro OUT!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Friendly Neighborhood Soul Reaper

* * *

 **Hey everyone!**

 **Unsurprisingly, people still seem to be firmly on one side or the other when it comes to this rewrite. I find it interesting that some people continue to read this version when it is fairly obvious that they preferred the original, but hey, you do you.**

 **I will go ahead and confirm that Ichigo will indeed serve as the inspiration for Momo's desire to become a Hero, and her overall character will have some minor changes due to this fact. Also, it seems that most of you guys are on the same page concerning who you think Ichigo's romantic interest will be. You might be correct, but you also might not…**

 **Any further information will be in the ending Author's Notes.**

 **AlucardsBro OUT!**

* * *

 _(Three Days Later)_

"Look mommy! It's so pretty!"

Ichigo cracked open a single eye, glancing in the direction of the high-pitched voice. There was a young boy eagerly pulling his mother and father along the sidewalk towards a nearby toy store, and it was quite clear that although both adults were a bit frazzled, they were still more than happy to indulge their child. Letting out a sigh, the orange-head closed his eye once again and pulled up his scarf, while slumping slightly against the park bench he was sitting on.

The park itself was unsurprisingly empty; it was getting pretty dark out, and most of the citizens of Musutafu had already retreated to the warmth and security of their homes. Personally, Ichigo was thankful that the area was so desolate.

It had been a few days since the incident regarding the hostages, and in that time both he and Ymir had done their absolute best to cover their tracks. Yoshimura had been quick to deduce from their behavior that the two of them had been the ones to interfere with the situation, and although the old man had certainly been upset over the fact that they'd illegally used their powers, he had still been proud of the fact that they'd done so in order to save lives.

Additionally, the Yaoyorozu Corporation had released an official statement praising both Ymir and himself for their heroism, despite not even knowing their true identities. Bazaro Yaoyorozu himself had even spoken with the chairman of the Hero Association in order to see whether or not they could be given a pardon for using their powers without official licenses.

Letting out a sigh, Ichigo brought his cup of coffee up to his lips and took a hearty sip, allowing the warm liquid to flood his senses.

As much as he appreciated the recognition and praise, it still wasn't enough to lift the veil of melancholy that had recently decided to settle over his heart. Ymir and Yoshimura had certainly been like a second family to him, and he genuinely appreciated how quickly they'd welcomed him into their lives.

Even so…they _weren't_ his family…

The Substitute had done his best to hide his depression, but doing so was becoming increasingly difficult as the holiday season drew closer. Around this time of year, the Kurosaki family would usually take an annual trip to the countryside to celebrate Christmas. Yuzu would bake the most delicious cookies imaginable, and Karin would try her best to reign in their crazy father's absurd antics. Isshin liked to set aside a bit of spiked eggnog for himself, and that _always_ led to trouble.

Ichigo smiled slightly at the memories, before his expression quickly turned sour once again.

He missed them…

He missed Orihime.

He missed Chad.

He missed Uryu.

He missed Tatsuki, Chizuru, Mizuiro, and Keigo.

He even missed the rowdy crew from Urahara Shop.

Ymir and Yoshimura were wonderful…but they weren't the same.

Downing the rest of his beverage, the orange-head pitched it into the nearest trashcan and stood up. It _was_ pretty late out, and although he was technically an adult, Yoshimura had made it very clear that neither he nor Ymir were to ever stay out past midnight.

However, just as he was about to turn and head back in the direction of the café, a soft sound suddenly caught his attention. It was barely audible, even to his slightly enhanced senses, but it was most definitely there nonetheless. His brows furrowing, Ichigo turned back around and traipsed deeper into the park, past the old trees and numerous bushes towards the center, were a fairly large playground was erected.

There was a young woman, a girl really, seated on one of the swings. She had mostly white hair which was decorated with a few crimson streaks, and was wearing a pair of blue jeans accompanied by a light grey jacket. Her head was held low, and her shoulders were slumped. It was obvious, even to someone as dense as Ichigo, that she was in an emotionally low place.

"Hey…are you okay?" he asked.

The girl startled, only just now becoming aware of his presence, and nearly toppled backwards out of the swing. The orange-head moved forward surprisingly quickly, especially considering he was still in his human body, and placed a steadying hand against her back to help her return to an upright position.

"O-Oh, thank you," the girl stuttered.

"Don't mention it," Ichigo replied, removing his hand and leaning against one of the metal support bars of the swing set. "I hope you don't think I'm weird for asking this, but isn't it a bit late for someone your age to be out alone? There is more than one type of Villain, you know."

She offered him a thankful smile, reaching up to wipe away the remaining tears in her eyes. "Yes, I'm aware of that; I just needed to get out of the house for a while."

"Ah…" the orange-head replied dumbly, not really wanting to ask anything further. Not only would it be rude to ask a random girl about her personal life, but it would be straight up creepy as well. And even Ichigo, who was well known amongst his friends for being extremely blunt, knew when not to intrude on certain topics.

That being said, even if he didn't know this girl, he wasn't about to leave her to fend for herself. It wouldn't hurt to stick around until she was ready to go home as well.

Thankfully, his personal feelings of awkwardness were dispersed when his temporary companion decided to speak up once again. "My mom…she isn't in the best of health. She and my father haven't ever really had the best of relationships, but she's tried to make it through for the sake of me and my brothers. But now…now she's in a mental hospital."

Ichigo remained silent.

Internally, he was questioning why she had decided to share such a personal story with a random stranger in the park; but, if she needed someone to vent to, then he didn't mind being that person. In the very least, it was better than sitting around and moping about his own emotional issues.

The girl let out a sigh, and leaned slightly against the chains holding the swing up. "We always knew she was depressed, but she's never actually done anything to suggest actual mental illness. But the other day…she hurt my little brother very badly."

"Is he alright?" Ichigo asked, feeling a bit concerned.

She smiled sadly, nodding in affirmation. "He's got a pretty bad burn along the left side of his face, but the doctors say he'll be alright. Thank you for asking, though." She suddenly laughed, a light blush coming across her face. "God, look at me…talking about my personal issues with some random stranger in the park at ten o'clock at night…I'm sorry about taking up your time."

The orange-head shook his head. "Nah, don't worry about it. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, its that bottling up your emotions won't do you any good. Sometimes it's good to just let it all out."

He blinked suddenly at the realization that he'd been doing the exact opposite of what he'd just said for the past few days…

Oblivious to his internal conflict, the girl smiled thankfully and nodded. "That's some pretty good advice; where did you learn that?"

Ichigo swallowed, pushing his conflicted thoughts to the back of his mind and letting out a sigh. "When I was a kid, my mother was murdered. For the longest time, I blamed myself for everything, especially the impact it had on my dad and my little sisters. I was there when it happened…and every day afterward for several years, I always told myself that there must have been something that I could have done."

The young woman's expression turned truly sorrowful, yet she remained silent and waited for him to continue.

"However, after a while, and after literally getting some sense beaten into me by my old man, I realized that there wasn't anything that I could have done to prevent it after all. I mean, I was eight years old, what the hell was I _supposed_ to do? My mother wouldn't have wanted me to blame myself, so I stopped doing so. I opened myself up to my friends and family, and I started feeling better than I had in years."

"Better to be thankful for what you have, than to mourn over what you have lost, huh?" the girl surmised, offering him a kind smile.

And like a punch to the gut, Ichigo was overcome with a sudden epiphany. She…she was right.

There wasn't anything he could do about his current predicament, so what was the point of feeling sorry for himself? Sure, he missed his friends and family back home incredibly, but if he knew them like he thought he did, his father and Tatsuki would readily kick his ass across the entirety of Japan if they knew he was moping around like he had been.

After all, it wasn't like he was alone. Not in the slightest.

He had Ymir, who was well on her way to becoming his best friend and confidant, as well as a third sister-figure.

He had Yoshimura, who was like the kind and supportive grandfather he'd never had.

He also had Ryuko, who he had spoken with several more times since their initial encounter.

There was also the numerous patrons of the café, who would greet him every morning with a cheerful 'hello' accompanied by a warm smile.

He was not alone…

They might not be blood, but he _had_ a family.

He had just been feeling too sorry for himself to realize it until now. A wide smile spread across the Substitute's face.

"You're right," he said, addressing his companion once again. "You're absolutely right."

She smiled knowingly. "It looks like you were working through something of your own."

He chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess I was just being too stupid to not take my own advice. I think I just needed to hear it from someone else to finally make it sink in."

"I'm glad I could help," the girl laughed.

Ichigo joined in and offered her a hand, which she readily accepted. Pulling his new friend to her feet, the orange-head offered her a thankful smile. "Hell, I don't even know your name…" he admitted a bit sheepishly.

"It's Fuyumi; Fuyumi Todoroki."

"Wait…Todoroki…as in…?"

" _Yes,"_ she sighed in exasperation, rolling her eyes. "As in the daughter of the Number Two Hero, Endeavor."

"Oh," Ichigo blinked in surprise, before his eyes slowly narrowed. "Hey, do you mind if I be honest with you?"

"Oh, by all means," the white-haired young woman smiled.

"Your dad seems like kind of an asshole…"

Fuyumi let out a more genuine laugh than she had in ages.

* * *

There had been a lot of strange people coming by the house lately…

They had all been eager to speak with her mother and father, ensuring that they were unharmed and in good health. A lot of them had tried to talk to her as well and ask if she was okay, but Momo wasn't really a fan of strangers invading her personal space and asking personal questions.

The six-year-old spit into her grand bathroom sink, before filling a small cup up with water and rinsing out her mouth. Placing her rose-colored toothbrush back in its holder, she dried her hands off with a small red towel and walked out of the bathroom; turning off the room's lights and padding across the hard wood floor to her bed.

Some people might say that a queen-sized bed would be too much for a girl her age, but for Momo, it allowed for the perfect place to build blanket forts and host parties for all fo her stuffed animals. The bed frame was topped by a large white canopy, with rosy curtains billowing down from the edges.

Climbing atop the mattress and up to the head of the bed, she slipped under the covers and snuggled her stuffed rabbit against her chest. Haruka was a gift from her grandparents, and the day she had received the velvet plushie from them had been the last time she had seen either of them before their untimely deaths. They had died during a battle between some Hero and Villain when she was only three years old. She didn't remember much about the incident, but the one thing she _did_ remember hearing was that the Hero had been killed before the bad guy had finally been apprehended.

Shaking her head, Momo snuggled back against her pillows and pulled her soft comforter up to her chin. She had long-since become aware that she tended to dwell on topics that most children her age weren't even aware of, such as the nature of the world and the people in it. Her mother said it was because she was so incredibly intelligent, and thus she had a much more mature mindset than all of the other kids at school. All she knew was that it made it exceptionally hard to make friends, and hold interesting conversations with other children.

She always felt out of place at school…

Her door suddenly creaked open, and a familiar face peeked into the room.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" Karla Yaoyorozu asked kindly as she approached her daughter's bed.

The little girl shrugged. "Okay, I guess…"

Karla sat on the edge of the bed. "Have you been having any more nightmares?"

"No, I'm okay," Momo smiled, attempting to reassure her mother. In truth, she _had_ been having a multitude of unpleasant dreams, and in each of them she had been falling helplessly through the open air. There weren't even any buildings or other familiar landmarks in said dreams; she'd just been falling endlessly through the sky. However, like clockwork, before she woke up, she would always see a flash of orange accompanied by disembodied gold and black eyes.

Even after doing countless online searches, Momo still had yet to find any sufficient information regarding her mysterious rescuer. There was absolutely no previous record of anyone matching his description ever appearing prior to three days ago, even though there was already an abundance of truly terrifying fan art of him. And she didn't even _want_ to get started on some of the truly disturbing blog posts she had come across written by smitten young women enthralled by the masked man garbed in robes of black.

However, one thing was for sure…

Though the Hero Association had publicly declared that they appreciated the acts of heroism demonstrated by 'Zangetsu' and 'Jötunn', the still declared that they were both to be treated like any other Villains. Momo could certainly understand the need to keep powerful Quirk users registered, but she, like many others both online and on television, disagreed with the HA's verdict.

"Hey Mama," she suddenly spoke up, "why does the Hero Association hate Zangetsu?"

Karla blinked in a moment of surprise at the specific question, before quickly recovering. She had grown accustomed to her daughter asking extremely mature questions over the past several years, after all.

"I don't think they necessarily hate him," the older woman sighed, reaching up to run a hand through Momo's hair. "They definitely disagree with the way he went about rescuing us, though. I think it definitely scares them that there is a man out there potentially capable of fighting All Might…we don't need another man like that running around."

Momo frowned; she wasn't aware of any existing Villains who were even close to All Might's level of strength. "What do you mean?"

Karla shook her head. "Don't worry about it honey; I'm just thinking about something that happened a long time ago when I was just a little girl. Anyway, I think that all the HA needs is time to see whether or not Zangetsu and his giant friend are actually good people at heart. I believe they are, but we were there to see it in person, after all. People need to see things consistently to truly believe in them, and that kind of trust needs to be nurtured over a long period of time."

The young girl nodded in acceptance, and glanced down at her sheets.

Her mother was right.

Everyone who was actually involved in the incident, including herself, her mother, and her father, already believed that Zangetsu and Jötunn were good people, but of course that was because they had been there to witness their heroism. The rest of the world just needed time to witness it as well…

Momo certainly hoped that she hadn't seen the last of her masked rescuer.

He was defiantly scary at first glance, but that meant that he was a perfect example of how not to judge a book by its cover. He had held her gently, and spoken to her with a kind, if slightly disturbing voice. She firmly believed in her heart that he was a good person, even if the Hero Association was too paranoid to see that.

"Hey Mama, can I take kendo lessons?" she asked suddenly, turning back to her mother.

Karla blinked. "Well…um…I don't see why not, if that's something you really want to do. Is there any particular reason why?"

Momo nodded, smiling brightly. "I think I want to be a Hero!"

* * *

 _(The Following Morning)_

"This is delicious, thanks Ichigo!"

"You're such a sweetheart."

"Can I get a refill, Ichigo?"

"Sure thing," the orange-head chuckled as he took the young woman's empty cup, before heading back towards the kitchen to fulfill her request. In the few hours since his talk with Fuyumi in the park, his mood had improved drastically, and it definitely showed. Yoshimura had pointed out that there appeared to be much more of a spring in his step, while Ymir had flat-out told him his cheerfulness was downright creepy.

It had obviously been a playful jab, and she'd later said how glad she was that he was finally done dragging his ass around and feeling sorry for himself.

Stepping around the counter towards the large coffee maker resting against the wall in the kitchen, Ichigo pressed all of the necessary buttons on the machine to blend the customer's preferred drink. As soon as he placed the cup under the machine, the small bell attached to the front door chimed loudly, signaling the arrival of new customers.

"What's up everyone?! Ya'll getting ya mocha on? Now that's what I call funky!" an extremely loud and boisterous voice proclaimed.

"Could you not be yourself for five minutes?" a second, much more mild and reserved voice sighed in rather obvious exasperation.

Several people across the café laughed at the verbal exchange, and more than a few cheerful greetings were issued. Glancing up from his current task, Ichigo turned to face the entrance, where two _extremely_ different looking individuals were standing in the doorway.

One had very long blonde hair, which was swept back into a rather unique style that pointed upwards. A leather jacket covered the plain white t-shirt her was wearing, and a pair of slightly frazzled blue jeans covered his legs. And, to top his attire off, a pair of orange-tinted sunglasses sat snugly on his nose. He was dressed like the kind of guy one might expect to always be the life of the party.

The other young man had shaggy black hair that fell nearly to his shoulders. His upper half was adorned by a slightly heavy grey sweatshirt, along with a more lightly colored scarf that was wrapped around his neck. His legs were covered by rather plain-looking sweatpants, which quite honestly gave off the impression that he'd simply grabbed the first pair of pants he'd seen after waking up. All-in-all, he was quite literally the polar opposite of his companion.

The bizarre duo walked across the café towards the bar, and all the while the blond-haired man waved back enthusiastically to everyone who told him good morning. His darker-haired friend merely stared forward, and ignored all greetings sent in his direction aside from an occasional grunt of acknowledgement.

Once they finally reached the bar, the blond plopped down on one of the available barstools with far more enthusiasm than Ichigo had ever seen someone use when simply sitting down. "How ya doing this fine, fine morning?" The man greeted the orange-head with a smile so wide that Ichigo was genuinely concerned his face might split in half.

"Uh…I'm doing good," the Substitute replied a bit awkwardly. "Just let me finish this order, and I'll be right with you guys."

The boisterous man waved a hand in nonchalantly. "That's cool, dude. We ain't got anywhere to be in a hurry, so take your time and keep that hard work a-coming!"

Laughing a bit awkwardly, the orange-head finished filling up the refill before walking the drink back over to the woman who'd requested it. He then quickly returned to the bar and took out a notepad and pen to take the newcomers' orders. "Alright, what can I get for you?"

The blond's grin only seemed to widen further. "I'll have a café mocha with three shots of espresso. Oh, and don't feel like you have to go easy on the whipped cream or chocolate sauce."

Okay…he was a sugar addict. Maybe that explained his hyperactivity.

Nodding, Ichigo then turned to the quieter dark-haired man. "And what would you like?"

"Just regular black coffee," he grunted in reply.

Nodding again, the orange-head stepped back over to the coffee machine and prepared to mix the requested drinks. out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Ymir emerge from the back-storage room where all of their supplies were kept. She turned in his direction with a cocky smile, but as soon as her eyes landed on the two men sitting at the bar, she immediately froze.

Ichigo's brows furrowed, silently asking what was wrong.

The brunette subtly shook her head, telling him to leave it be. Taking a moment to collect herself, she forced the smile to return to her face before walking across the café to attend to the other customers in need of service.

Blinking in confusion, the former Substitute merely shrugged to himself before bringing his attention back to his current orders. After a moment of making sure that he applied the excessive amount of whipped cream and chocolate that the blond had requested, he picked up both cups and set them delicately in front of the duo.

Both men thanked him, although one voiced his gratitude much more loudly than the other.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are your names?" Ichigo questioned. "I don't think I've ever seen either of you in here before, and I like to familiarize myself with new customers."

To the orange-head's surprise, the excitable blond man choked on his drink. Even his dark-haired companion raised an eyebrow in obvious curiosity.

"Whaaaaaaat?! You can't be serious! You don't recognize me?!" the exuberant man cried in exaggerated disbelief.

"Should I?" Ichigo replied bluntly.

"Of course, you should! My radio show is one of the most popular broadcasts in Japan!"

"I don't listen to a lot of radio…I prefer TV."

"Well then you still must have seen new reports about me, right?! I'm Hizashi Yamada! I'm Present Mic! The up-and-coming fan-favorite Hero amongst children everywhere!"

"That's laying on a bit thickly, don't you think…?" the dark-haired man sitting next to Hizahi snorted sarcastically.

"Of course not! Don't you see, Shota?! This means we obviously aren't doing enough to get our names out there!"

"Heroes don't statistically become popular until five or so years after they officially get their license. We only graduated three years ago," Shota replied, sighing in exasperation. "We're doing fine for ourselves, so shut up and drink your coffee."

Hizashi grumbled under his breath in a moment of childishness, but he complied nonetheless and took a long sip from his cup. For a brief moment, his eyes flicked back up to Ichigo. When they did, a look of confusion crossed his face, and he squinted behind his glasses as if trying to figure something out.

"Hey…now that I think about it, you look really familiar, bud. What's your name?"

The orange-head felt a bead of sweat drip down the back of his neck. If what he'd been overhearing was true, then these two were in their first few years as Pro Heroes. This, of course, undoubtedly meant that they had become aware of what had happened with the hostage situation several days ago. He and Ymir had been plastered across nearly every television set in Japan, and the still-image of him blocking All Might's punch with the flat of Zangetsu's blade had quickly become the most frequently searched thing on the internet.

"Uh, I'm Ichigo…but we've never met before. Trust me, I definitely would have remembered someone like you," he finally replied.

Shota actually cracked a small smirk at that.

Hizashi, on the other hand, didn't seem to register the small bit of sarcasm. "Huh…I could've sworn that I've seen you somewhere before. Maybe it's just the hair, ya know? That's a pretty funky color that you don't see too often."

In any other situation, Ichigo might have growled under his breath at the mention of his hair color, but his relief at Hizashi dismissing the topic _vastly_ outstripped his minor irritation.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," he responded with a bit of a nervous laugh.

The blond Pro laughed along with him, while Shota merely grunted slightly. To Ichigo's continued relief, a young woman across the café raised her hand in an attempt to get his attention. Letting out a sigh, the orange-head picked his notepad and pen back up and maneuvered out from behind the bar.

"I've got to go take another order, but just feel free to call me over if you guys need anything else," he said to the two young Heroes as he walked over to take the new request.

"You betcha!" Hizashi grinned widely. "Just be sure to tune into my radio show every once in a while! It's out of the woooooooorld!"

* * *

 _(Later That Night)_

The cool wind that whipped across his mask brought with it a familiar calming sensation. No matter which universe he was in, Ichigo was glad he could have at least one constant wherever he went.

He had honestly been quite terrified when Present Mic had inquired as to his identity, and although it had been several hours since the conversation had occurred, he had still felt a lingering sense of worry in his heart until just recently. Going on patrol always seemed to calm him down, no matter what it was he might be worrying about.

There had been no doubt in the orange-head's mind that he could have easily taken out the two Pros if things had escalated into an actual confrontation, but that would have had the unintended consequence of bringing unwanted attention to Ymir and Yoshimura. And _THAT_ was most definitely something he wanted to avoid doing at all costs.

They didn't deserve anything like that to happen to them…

Shaking his head slightly to disrupt that particular train of thought, Ichigo continued to scour the city streets from above as he leaped from rooftop to rooftop. The enormous skyscrapers scattered across Musutafu provided absolutely perfect vantage points to spot potential criminal activity, and they also allowed him to move about without utilizing his Hirenkyaku.

So far, he had stopped three robberies, five muggings, and two rapes.

Subduing all of the criminals had been an absolutely laughable process, and even though all of them had possessed minor Quirks, they still hadn't been nearly enough to actually pose a challenge against him. After rendering the assholes unconscious, he had stayed with the victims until the authorities arrived; at which point he had used a quick burst of Flash Step to relocate to the nearest rooftop. He wasn't really all that worried about being potentially apprehended by the cops, but he still didn't want to have to deal with being treated like a Villain.

Bullets were easy enough to dodge, but it was still fairly annoying to do so while trying to explain to the police officers that he was on their side…

The Substitute's sandaled feet touched down on another rooftop for a fraction of a second before he launched himself once again into the open air.

A small smile formed under his mask. It honestly felt really good to be able to use his powers to protect and help ordinary living people, and the new convenience of being able to switch between his human form and his Soul Reaper body was absolutely incredible. He'd _really_ have to thank Hat-n-Clogs if he ever saw him again.

A sudden thud echoed from one of the buildings below, but Ichigo was too caught up in his thoughts to even register the sound. Therefore, he was _completely_ caught off guard when a solid body _slammed_ into his stomach with the force of a speeding semi-truck. Nearly all of the air was forced from his lungs, and the orange-head let out a strangled gasp as the force of his assailant's momentum propelled them both towards the side, in the direction of yet another skyscraper.

"HA! I GOT YOU!" A distinctly feminine voice cried gleefully over the whipping wind.

Ichigo and his mystery attacker smashed into the roof of the building, and due to their positioning, it was unfortunately the Substitute who took most of the impact. Letting out a grunt as the concrete beneath them cracked, Ichigo maneuvered one of his legs between himself and the unknown woman, before kicking her away with a decent amount of force.

Releasing an 'oomf', the dark-skinned young girl was propelled across the rooftop.

Attempting to scramble to his feet, the orange-head prepared to make a hasty retreat. Although he wasn't worried about losing, he still didn't want to ruin the small reputation he had by getting into a fight with what appeared to be yet another Pro Hero.

Unfortunately for him, his opponent was far faster than he'd anticipated, and she leapt back towards him with a surprising amount of agility. Wrapping her arms around his waist, the girl locked her grip and absolutely refused to let him go.

"I've been trying to track you down for two days!" she snarled. "And I'll be damned before I let you get away from me that easily!"

" **Get off of me!"** Ichigo growled, using a brief burst of Flash Step to move a few feet forward. It wasn't enough to actually get anywhere, but that hadn't been what he intended to do.

The dark-skinned young woman made a gagging noise, and she immediately collapsed to the concrete while desperately trying to keep herself from emptying her stomach. Flash Step could cause _severe_ nausea for those who hadn't used it before, or for those who didn't anticipate it. Those among the living were even more susceptible to the effects, and the orange-head had purposefully chosen to only move a few feet so as to not cause her extreme bodily damage.

Ichigo moved to turn away, but a tiny bit of guilt wormed its way into his chest as his attacker continued to hack and wheeze pathetically as she curled into a shivering ball.

Cursing himself under his breath, the Substitute turned back around and looked down at her. **"Uh…you gonna be okay there?"**

"F-Fuck…you…asshole…"

Snorting at her attitude, Ichigo took a moment to finally get a proper look at the girl. As he'd noticed before, she had fairly dark skin, which itself contrasted quite interestingly with her snow-white hair. Her physique was actually very well defined for a woman, and she actually kind of reminded him of Mila Rose as far as muscle-mass went. However, out of everything else he noticed about her, the thing that caught Ichigo's attention the most was the pair of long, rabbit-like ears poking through her hair.

Also, interestingly enough, she was wearing a school uniform.

Perhaps she wasn't a Pro after all…

" **Huh…that's actually kinda cute…"** the Substitute mused aloud.

"What the hell did you just say…?" the dark-skinned girl growled, managing to raise her head and reveal a furious pair of ruby-red eyes.

Lowering himself into a crouch, Ichigo cocked his head to the side. **"What the hell did you hope to accomplish by doing all of this?"** he asked.

The girl only glared at him silently.

" **Got a name?"**

Still nothing.

Letting out an annoyed sigh, Ichigo leaned forward. **"You know, I'm pretty sure it's illegal for students to use their Quirks without government permission, even if they** _ **DO**_ **go to one of the Hero Academies…"**

The girl noticeably tensed, and she fought to retain her glare.

" **It would be such a shame if a concerned citizen, such as myself, were to report a dark-skinned, white-haired girl with rabbit ears jumping from rooftop to rooftop trying to fight criminals without proper documentation, don't you think?"**

"You're using your powers illegally too, dumbass."

" **True enough, but nobody knows who** _ **I**_ **am. I'm pretty sure someone within the school system would be able to identify you easily enough just from a physical description."**

Her glare intensified, but the tension in her muscles decreased. "It's Rumi…"

Ichigo blinked dumbly behind his mask. **"What…?"**

The girl snorted and rolled her eyes. "My name, idiot. It's Rumi Usagiyama."

" **Oh…well, I'm Zangetsu."**

"No shit."

" **Okay, well the attitude isn't very cute, so you might want to work on that. But seriously though, what the hell did you hope to accomplish with all of this?"** the orange-head asked.

Rumi growled. "What do you think? Your name is all over the news, and the HA issued a statement saying you're officially classified as a vigilante. Taking you down would have made my life a whole lot sweeter…would have finally showed all of those stuck-up bitches at school too."

Ichigo's expression flattened. **"Doing stuff illegally just to improve your own glory and reputation?" That doesn't sound very heroic if you ask me…"**

The rabbit-eared girl snarled. "What the fuck would _you_ know about being a Hero? A lot of people in the government already hate you, and people are already scared of you too since you can apparently match motherfucking All Might in strength."

" **And are you scared too?"**

" _Hell no!_ I ain't scared of a masked pussy who's too afraid to show his own face!"

Growling under his breath, Ichigo elected to ignore that particular comment. **"You want to know what I know about being a hero? Fine. It isn't much, but I** _ **DO**_ **know that a Hero needs to always be willing to fight for the greater good. If it comes down to a choice to either save yourself of save the city, then you can't even hesitate to put yourself on the line. A Hero can't let people see that they have flaws; they need to be someone who the public can look up too and strive to be like. That, in my opinion at least, is what a Hero should be."**

Rumi's red eyes widened slightly, and all of the mocking in her expression slowly vanished. After almost a minute had passed, she tentatively opened her mouth to reply.

However, before she could utter so much as a single word, Ichigo felt a new presence tingle at the edge of his senses. His head snapped in the direction of the downtown portion of the city, where a bright orange and red light was drawing continuously closer to their position. Scooping Rumi up into his arms, who in turn let out a surprised squeak, he quickly carried her over to a ventilation crate.

"What the hell are you doing?! Put me down!" the white-haired girl hissed.

Doing as she asked, the orange-head tore off the upper half of his Shihakusho and draped it over the red-faced young woman. **"Stay still, keep quiet, and don't move until six minutes have passed since I've left,"** he ordered firmly.

Not bothering to wait for her to reply, the now shirtless Substitute turned around and leapt into the open air off the edge of the rooftop.

Left in a bewildered daze, Rumi pulled the black cloak more tightly around her form. She could still feel a decent amount of heat in her cheeks and along the back of her neck.

"Goddamnit…" she groaned. "Why the fuck did he have to be so hot?"

* * *

One minute turned to two, then three, then four, then five…

After ensuring that his pursuer was still hot on his trail, Ichgo finally descended into an abandoned construction site. The wind had picked up even more in the past few minutes, but even without the upper half of his Shihakusho, the orange-head barely registered the cold.

Drawing Zangetsu from its place resting along his back, the Substitute turned to face his incoming guest.

He was glad that his strategy of leading the newcomer away from Rumi worked without any issues. She talked like a bit of a bitch, but Ichigo didn't really want her career as a Hero in training to end so soon. Even if it had only been for a moment, he had been able to tell that his words had still made somewhat of an impact on her.

Hopefully, she would carry that with her as she moved forward…

The light that had been following him continued to grow in intensity as it drew closer. Whoever this individual was, they were already well aware that he knew of their presence. Therefore, they didn't appear to be in any rush to make landfall.

Wisps of steam began to rise from the ground as the source of the light grew closer, and several patches of sand even began to turn to glass. Finally, a column of fire impacted the earth, incinerating everything in the direct vicinity. It was an impressive display to be sure, but it was still like a firecracker compared to the likes of Yamamoto's Zanpakuto.

"So, you're Zangetsu, hm? I can't say that I'm too impressed."

A deep, gruff voice spoke from within the raging inferno of flames, and soon enough an extremely muscular figure stepped out from the fire. The man wore a deep blue costume that stretched across the entirety of his body, while a pair of grayish-white gauntlets covered his forearms. His boots were wreathed in flames, as was much of his upper torso and face.

Even Ichigo, who hadn't been in this world for too long, could easily tell who he was about to deal with.

Enji Todoroki.

Endeavor.

The Number Two Hero.

And, as he now knew, also Fuyumi's asshole of a father.

" **What do you want?"** the orange-head said flatly.

Endeavor smirked. "Officially, I'm here to bring you in. Personally though? I want to see how much of a fight the new kid who stood up to All might can put up."

" **I don't have time for this. Leave now, and I won't hurt you."**

The Number Two Hero's smirk vanished. "Hurt me? _HURT ME?_ Do you have any idea who I am, you little runt?!"

Flames enveloped the older man's fists, and he charged forward with a battle-ready roar that Kenpachi would have most likely been proud of. Ichigo responded in kind, and sank into a crouch before blasting forward with enough force to shatter the dilapidated wall behind him.

Hellfire and Spiritual Energy rained down with absolutely no mercy.

* * *

" **But AlucardsBro! Endeavor would never be able to match Ichigo in a fight!"**

 **Well yeah, I'm well aware of this, but I've decided to take a bit of a liberty in allowing the upper-level Heroes to have at least a fighting chance against him. Nobody on the planet is truly on Ichigo's level, but individuals like All Might and Endeavor will still be able to hold their own for a little while. If you don't like this, then that's just tough. Orchestrating fights between characters from different series is always a bit challenging when you know at least one person will get salty about power levels.**

 **That aside, I am genuinely sorry for how long it has taken me to get this new chapter out. Those of you who are following my other story** _ **"Desires of the Heart",**_ **know that I have been absolutely swamped with school projects and the like. I don't know how consistent my updating schedule will be during the rest of the school year, but I'm still going to make an active effort to write whenever I can. When summer rolls around, though, I have full confidence that I'll be able to devote more time to my stories.**

 **As some of you probably noticed, Ymir didn't make much of an appearance in this chapter. That's because her character has already been established fairly well, and I wanted to take some time to explore Ichigo's interactions with the world around him and the people in it.**

 **Speaking of which, we finally saw a few more familiar faces, didn't we?**

 **As of now, both Aizawa and Yamada are twenty-one, Fuyumi is thirteen, and Miruko is seventeen. This makes her the same age as Ichigo, Ymir, and Ryukyu.**

 **I still enjoy reading who all of you think Ichigo will end up with, even though I already know who it's going to be. Let me remind you though, she may not have even shown up yet. Leave a comment detailing your guess, but I'd also like to hear why you think your guess would be compatible with our favorite Soul Reaper.**

 **I'll be updating** _ **"Bloodstained Souls"**_ **next, and if you haven't already checked it out and you're a fan of** _ **Hellsing Ultimate,**_ **then I recommend you at least give it a chance. I love all of my stories dearly, but** _ **"Bloodstained Souls"**_ **is admittedly my pride and joy.**

 **Thank you for being so patient with me, and feel free to leave a review.**

 **AlucardsBro OUT!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: I Need a Hero

* * *

 **Alright, so I'm going to rant about a few things before we dive back into the story.**

 **First of all, I am not going to rewrite this story AGAIN just because one person out of over a thousand is unsatisfied with what I have so far. This story is only three chapters…you have NO idea what I have planned for Ichigo. I understand that having him use his Fullbring powers would have made him more equal in strength to the rest of the MHA characters, but I wanted to challenge myself in going with a different approach.**

 **Yes, I am** _ **aware**_ **that he is** _ **vastly**_ **more powerful than everyone in the MHA universe (save for possibly All Might at his full power and All For One). And no, I am not implying that All Might or One For All are his equals in strength; I'm just saying that they could put up a somewhat decent fight.**

 **Yes, I am also** _ **aware**_ **that fight scenes will become boring if Ichigo simply continues to win without much effort.**

 **It blows my mind that some people can be so judgmental of this story when I've only published three damn chapters. I have MANY things already planned out for this, and I have already prepared multiple scenarios where your concerns will be addressed. For the love of all that is holy, please learn the virtue of patience!**

 **I hate to come across as angry and frustrated, but when people send me high and mighty reviews that don't even allow me the courtesy of a response link, I will post my replies to them here. Your 'criticisms' don't come across as well-meaning and constructive. They honestly seem more condescending and belittling than anything else.**

 **To be frank, I couldn't care less what your opinion is. I enjoy writing this story, and several hundred people appear to enjoy reading it as well.**

 **And, just for the sake of that one Guest Reviewer, I will say that if you'd even bothered to read my Author's Notes in the VERY FIRST CHAPTER, you would know that this story does NOT take place after the** _ **Thousand Year Blood War Arc**_ **. Instead, it begins almost right after Ichigo gets his Soul Reaper powers back during the** _ **Fullbring Arc**_ **.**

 **Guess what that means? He doesn't even know who Yhwach is at this point, and is considerably less powerful than he is at the time of the Quincy King's defeat.**

 **Now then, I was also recently informed that another author has quite literally been copying this story and editing a few things here and there before passing it off as his own work. As I hope you can understand, this has also contributed to my frustration. Not only is plagiarism** _ **ILLEGAL,**_ **but it is also just morally unacceptable. I do not claim to own** _ **My Hero Academia**_ **or** _ **Bleach,**_ **but the idea of this story is still my own.**

 **Thankfully, I managed to convince this other author to edit his story considerably. However, just in case he is reading this, I will say that I will continue to monitor his work just in case he decides to revert back to copying me.**

 **AlucardsBro OUT!**

* * *

There were many things that got on Ichigo's nerves…

For example, he hated it when Kon acted like a lecherous pervert.

He also got thoroughly annoyed when Nel accidentally drooled on him.

Still, he liked to think that over the years he had gradually learned to better control his temper. That being said, he would still admit that there were several things that could drive him up the wall. As it turned out, dodging fire blasts thrown in his direction by a relentless maniac was one of these things…

" _STAND STILL!"_ Endeavor roared angrily, sending another searing stream of flame in the orange-head's direction. The beginning of their fight had quickly proven to Ichigo that although the Number Two Hero was exceptionally powerful by _this_ world's standards, he was still no match for someone of his own level.

Well… to be fair… Todoroki was making him break a slight sweat, but that was only due to the rolling waves of heat he was giving off. Spiritual Energy protected him from taking a lot of physical damage, sure, but that didn't mean it kept him from feeling intense hot or cold temperatures..

Letting out a sigh, the Substitute flipped over another blast of flame and fixed his opponent with a rather flat expression. However, due to the fact that he was still wearing his Hollow mask, he doubted Endeavor was aware of his visible annoyance. **"You do realize that this is pointless, right? I can do this all night…"**

"Shut the hell up!" Endeavor snarled, lowering his arm and fixing Ichigo with a furious expression. "I'm not going to quit until you learn your place! I don't care if you were able to stand up to All Might, you're still just a common thug who needs to learn where you fit in the pecking order!"

Still frowning, Ichigo cocked his head to the side slightly. **"So, you're only doing this out of some misplaced sense of pride? You don't care about bringing me in like everyone else?"**

"Of course I do," the Flame Hero snorted, igniting his fists once again. "I'll be more than happy to take you in, but only _after_ I beat you black and blue."

" **Better men than you have tried…"**

"Are you calling me weak, _boy?!"_

" **Not really. I'll admit that you aren't quite enough to put me in the dirt, but I'll still give credit where credit is due. Your determination and fighting style are admirable, but just because you're a good fighter, it doesn't mean you're a good hero."**

"I think my track record would beg to differ," Endeavor growled.

" **Maybe; but, I'm willing to bet that your family wouldn't,"** Ichigo shot back coldly. His earlier talk with Fuyumi had already ensured that his opinion of the man standing across from him was low to begin with, but now that he'd seen Endeavor's arrogance firsthand, he found himself despising him even more.

The redheaded Hero's eyes widened in a moment of shock and surprise, before his face contorted once again into unyielding rage. Letting out a furious roar, he raised both hands and sent a stream of fire at Ichigo that was hot enough to turn the surrounding sand to glass.

Ichigo merely raised Zangetsu over his head, before swiping it downward and dissipating the attack racing towards him with the blast of wind his action produced.

" **Face it asshole, you aren't going to be able to beat me…"** the Substitute growled.

"SHUT UP!" Endeavor roared. Flames exploded beneath the bearded man's feet, rocketing him across the construction site directly toward Ichigo. Cocking a fist back, the Number Two Hero released an almighty cry of rage, before igniting his fist and sending it screaming towards the orange-head's face.

Ichigo didn't even bother to move. This little back and forth game of theirs was really starting to grow tiresome. If he wanted to end this 'fight' before things got out of hand, he would need to prove to Endeavor just how fruitless his actions were. The older man's flaming fist _slammed_ into his left cheek with the force of a semi-truck. The force of the impact kicked up an enormous dust cloud, and shockwaves billowed along the ground. The foundations of the halfway constructed building surrounding them creaked and groaned against the buffeting winds, yet surprisingly, everything remained standing.

Ichigo's face was engulfed in a fireball, and Endeavor let out a bellowing victory laugh. "HA! Ha, ha, ha! I did it! You see that, you snot-nosed little punk? What do you have…to…say….now…?"

The older man trailed of, voice laden with absolute disbelief. His blue eyes, once filled with unyielding rage and determination, grew wide in shock as he beheld the sight in front of him. As the flames roaring around Ichigo's face died down, it quickly became apparent that the attack had most certainly _not_ had the desired effect…

The Substitute Soul Reaper had barely moved. Endeavor's fist, still pressed against his mask, had only served to slightly turn his head to the right. And, despite all of the power the orange-head _knew_ the redhead had put into the blow, he only felt the tinniest of cracks form on his mask's cheek.

Slowly, he reached up to grip Endeavor's wrist. The older man was still in far too much shock to retaliate, making the movement all the easier. Removing the blue-eyed man's fist from the side of his face, Ichigo raised his other hand and clenched it tightly into a fist of his own.

" **Now it's** _ **my**_ **turn…"**

If Endeavor's punch had been delivered with the force of a speeding truck, then Ichigo's was done so with the speed and power of a meteorite.

His fist crashed into the older man's face, and the force generated by the blow _immediately_ snuffed out all of the flames in the area. The scaffolding around them shattered into thousands of tiny metal shards, and the ground beneath them cratered inward. Everything grew still and silent in that single moment, and the two men briefly made eye contact.

That was all it took for Ichigo's hopes to be confirmed.

Enji Todoroki finally understood…

The silence that had encompassed the world finally ended, and Endeavor was sent _flying_ though the air. A trail of blood exploded from his mouth, and his eyes glassed over as he was launched from the construction site. The Number Two Hero crashed into the side of a nearby skyscraper, but his momentum continued to propel him clean through the building. He smashed through another structure, before finally falling back down to earth in a broken and bruised heap.

Although he'd fallen out of sight, Ichigo was fairly certain he'd crashed down somewhere near the park.

" **I didn't mean to hit him that hard…."** the orange-head mumbled to himself, wincing slightly. His opinion of Endeavor was definitely extremely low, but he hadn't wanted to cause any lasting physical damage to the guy.

Releasing a tired sigh, the orange-head used a quick burst of Flash Step to relocate to a nearby rooftop. As he extended his senses, it quickly became apparent that Rumi had already long-since vacated the area. That was good. He could also sense that several low energy signatures were speeding towards the point of Endeavor's impact. If he had to guess, he would say it was probably the authorities. Their reaction time was more than a little impressive, but then again, he supposed it wouldn't take much to notice a flaming, man-shaped projectile slamming into the ground in the middle of one of the most well-visited recreational parks in the city.

Swiping a hand across his face, Ichigo dismissed his mask. His battle with Todoroki, if one could even really call it that, hadn't tired him out to any significant degree, but there was still a very light layer of sweat coating his body. He desperately needed a shower. Besides, it was also pretty damn late, and he would no doubt receive a _very_ thorough tongue-lashing from Yoshimura come the morning for staying out so long.

At this point, though? At this point, Ichigo was far too tired to care about that at the moment.

He'd just be satisfied with falling face-first onto the couch back at the café…

Disappearing in a shower of static, he quickly found himself back in front of his current place of residence. Reaching up one of his sleeves, he gripped his Combat Pass and reverted back into his human body.

As he entered the building, Ichigo was instantly taken aback by how quiet it was. Even this late, he could usually hear something coming form upstairs, be it the television, radio, of just Ymir screaming into her phone.

"Yoshimura! Ymir! You guys here? I'm home!"

No response…

Frowning, the orange-head ascended the staircase leading up into their shared apartment. The door was already unlocked, and as soon as he opened it, his immediate concerns were waved away. Both of his housemates were sitting on the couch, eyes glued to the TV. Releasing a worried breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, Ichigo scowled and stepped forward.

"Hey, did you guys hear me?" he grumbled, moving into the living room.

Ymir and Yoshimura merely continued to stare at the TV. The longer he looked at them, the more it became apparent that their faces were contorted into expressions of horror.

Ichigo's fear quickly returned. Moving quick as lighting, he came to a stop next to the couch, shaking their shoulders worriedly. "Hey! What's wrong?! Are you guys okay?"

Ymir raised a shaky hand, pointing a single finger at the screen.

The Substitute's eyes followed her direction. Finally, to his own disbelief, he saw the source of their horror with his own eyes…

The television had been turned to a news report, and the camera was focussed on a very familiar figure laying on the ground in a pool of red.

It was All Might…and the entire left side of his lower abdomen was covered in blood.

"What's going on…?" Ichigo asked, eyes still fixed on the screen.

Yoshimura swallowed thickly. "A report came in, saying there was an attack on an oil rig just off the main coast. All Might…he did a brief interview, before charging right in to begin rescuing the workers trapped out there. But then, _he_ showed up…"

"Who?"

The older man's eyes hardened. "I'm not entirely sure. It was a masked man, and somehow he began to completely dominate All Might of all people in a battle of brute strength. Something like that is completely unheard of."

Ymir continued to shake. "H-He's killing him…"

Ichigo scowled. "No he won't…"

Reaching into his jacket for the second time in only a few minutes, he once again brought out his Combat Pass. However, before he could ever raise the medallion to his chest and initiate the transformation into his Soul Form, a brutal slap to his left cheek snapped his head to the side. His eyes widened in surprise, and he idly registered hearing Yoshimura call out Ymir's name in admonishment.

Slowly, he turned to face the young woman herself.

Her chest heaved in ragged breaths, and the corners of her eyes began to prickle with unshed tears.

"No," she snarled.

"W-Wha…?"

"I said NO!" the brunette roared, leaning into this personal space and roughly gripping a handful of his shirt. "I _know_ what you're thinking, but you can be _damn fucking_ sure it ain't gonna happen!"

Ichigo's eyes softened as realization dawned on him. "Ymir…"

" _SHUT THE FUCK UP!_ I _refuse_ to let you go and pull some half-assed stunt that will end up getting you killed! Did you even _see_ what that guy did to All might?! ALL MIGHT! If he can't beat that monster, what makes you think you even stand a chance?!"

Gently, the orange-head reached up to pull her hand away. Her grip was strong, but he still managed somehow. "If I do nothing…it would be just as bad as condemning All Might to death. Besides, there are still other people trapped on the rig, right?"

"Well yeah, but-"

"I can't just sit here and watch…" he continued. "Besides, I think I'm more powerful than you give me credit for."

"But what if you're _wrong?"_ Ymir pleaded desperately. "What if you _can't_ win?"

"If I can't win?" Ichigo parroted. "Then I'll just rescue the civilians and get out as fast as possible. I'll definitely try to stand and fight, but if this turns out to be something I can't hope to win, I'm not about to risk throwing my life away. I'll be careful, don't worry."

"You'd better be," the brunette snarled. "If you aren't here in time for breakfast, I'll track you down and beat your ass to Tuesday and back, got it?!"

"Got it," the orange-head smiled.

Raising his Combat Pass to his chest, he immediately welcomed the familiar sensation of being transferred into his Soul Form. Black robes manifested in place of his usual jacket and jeans, with wooden sandals replacing his sneakers. The weight of Zangetsu rested along the Substitute's back, heavy and comforting.

He smirked confidently, meeting Ymir's still worried eyes.

Time to kick some ass.

* * *

Things were…certainly not going as planned…

Fires roared across the good majority of the oil rig, getting dangerously close to where the extremely flammable material was stored. If the inferno reached the storage tanks, they would _all_ be done for.

Gritting his teeth, Toshinori Yagi placed a hand against his wound, intent on applying enough pressure to at least stop the bleeding. The fire in his soul, which had previously burned in the hopes of saving everyone aboard the rig, was now replaced with a roaring desire to put down the man approaching him once and for all. The man who had killed his master, and had the gall to _laugh_ while doing it.

All For One…

Trouble was, Toshinori was fairly certain several of his internal organs had been completely destroyed by the Villain's last attack. Even if he managed to survive this battle, it was unlikely he would ever be able to use his full strength ever again…

But, as the Symbol of Peace, he could not afford to look weak in the eyes of the masses, even for a moment.

With that being the case, his blue eyes burned in a reignited fury. He could not…no…he _would_ _not_ lose! He refused to lay down and die while the monster of a man in front of him continued to torment the populace!

"Well now, I must say you aren't looking too good, All Might," the masked Villain taunted. "You are bleeding profusely, and I sincerely doubt you will be able to stop me in your current condition. But then again, you still have civilians to save, do you not? If I know you like I _know_ I do, you won't rest until you've saved the day and sent all of these people on their happy little way."

"You're damn right…" Toshinori growled, slowly and shakily rising to his feet for what felt like the hundredth time. "Besides, how could I ever rest knowing that you'd still be here to cause untold destruction?"

"It's funny you should say that…" All For One chuckled, clear amusement permeating his tone. "There was a time when someone else said the exact same thing to me. Someone we both knew very well. I'm sure you're aware of who I'm referring to?"

All Might's expression morphed into an enraged snarl. "Don't you _dare_ talk about her!"

Ignoring the Number One Hero's outburst, All For One continued with his taunt. "But then again, we all know how _that_ scenario played out. I wonder…will you scream as loudly as your master did when I kill you too?"

" _SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"_

Power surged through Toshinori's body, and the blond man focussed all of it into his muscular legs. He used that power to blast forward, sending enormous sheets of metal flying through the air as if they were made of mere paper. The flames surrounding him were snuffed out instantaneously by the force of his movement alone, and the Symbol of Peace let out another roar as he flew towards All For One.

The Villain sidestepped his attack in a almost bored fashion. As All Might flew past him, All For One lashed out with a single leg and kicked the Hero in the middle of his back with enough force to shake the entirety of the oil rig. The sea below them roared against the winds generated by the impact, and All Might let out an agonized cry as he crashed back down against the deck.

"Come now, Toshinori," All For One said, as if speaking to a petulant child, "let us end this meaningless scuffle. It is over. I have won, and you have failed. I realize that this may be hard to accept, but the truth is often difficult to deal with, isn't it?"

The only reply he received was in the form of All Might's left foot lashing out and impacting him in the stomach. Letting out a surprised cry of his own, All For One flew back into the rig's observation tower, igniting yet another massive explosion. A column of smoke rose from the origin of the impact, and a rain of flaming embers was cast down onto the sea below.

Pushing himself to his hands and knees, All Might grunted in pain as he felt something inside of him give way. Hacking up an unhealthy amount of blood, the blond Hero weakly turned his head in a daze, eyes landing on a group of workers who were still trapped under several superheated support beams.

"Help us!"

"Save us, All Might!

"Please, I have a family!"

"You can do it, All Might!"

"YOU CAN DO IT!"

Gritting his teeth, Toshinori raised a hand and wiped the blood from his mouth. Ignoring the immense pain flooding the entirety of his body, the Number One Hero carefully raised himself back to his feet. "W-Worry not…because I. AM. HERE!"

"How annoying!"

Whirling around towards the source of voice, Toshinori raised his arms just in time to block a blast of super-condensed air. If such an attack had hit him in the face, there was no doubt in his mind that he would've been blinded…

All For One snarled as he pulled himself out of the burning rubble. "Why do you continue this pointless struggle? Don't you understand?! I am already victorious! Even now, your body continues to deteriorate. What is the point in continuing to rise back up every time I knock you off your feet?!"

All Might chuckled, grimacing briefly as he coughed up even more blood. Uncaring of the pain he was in, the Number One Hero continued to stand tall. He had to, in order to let the people in danger know there was nothing to be afraid of. As long as life continued to flow through him, there was nothing on this Earth that could keep him down for long.

"I suppose a Villain such as yourself wouldn't understand," he smirked challengingly. "It is a Hero's sacred duty to preserve life, even at the cost of their own. That is why…why I will continue to fight until the very last breath has been drawn from my body! There is nothing you can say or do that will _EVER_ shake my resolve!"

"I see.." All For One scoffed. "Then it seems I will simply have to prove to you how useless that ideology will be once you're dead and gone."

Letting out a roar powerful enough to send shockwaves emanating across the entirety of the rig, All For One's left first was engulfed in a swirling inferno of amethyst fire. His right hand condensed and hardened into a material visually reminiscent of diamond. His musculature increased dramatically as well, body raising in height until he was at least twelve feet tall.

Responding to the Villain's war cry with one of equal power, Toshinori focussed all of the power his Quirk granted him into his right arm. Every vein in the aforementioned limb _glowed_ with the power of One for All.

"Detroit…"

"It's over!" All For One snarled, moving forward with a speed that would put every bullet train on the planet to absolute shame. "This is where you will die, All Might! Just like your pathetic excuse of a master before you!"

Toshinori's blue eyes hummed with the fire burning in his soul, and he met the Villain head on.

"… _SMAAAAASH!"_

The world fell silent as their attacks collided, before a reverberating shockwave shook everything within the span of five miles. At the last moment before All For One's blow could land, All Might ducked under the Villain's diamond-encrusted fist. He was left completely unscathed, save for a mild scratch along the length of his forehead.

All For One himself was not so lucky…

Toshinori's fist impacted him directly in the nose, completely destroying his helmet. The Detroit Smash was powerful enough to render entire mountainsides to rubble, and with that being the case, every single bone in the Villain's face was utterly destroyed.

"Graaaaaah!" the wounded man cried out in agony, backing up several paces to clutch as his grievous injury. The glass that had once composed the faceplate of his helmet was now embedded in his skin, as well as his eyes.

Toshinori, ever the opportunist, took his opponent's moment of blindness to deliver yet another powerful punch, this time to the stomach. All For One was once again sent flying across the rig, smashing into a flaming pile of ruined machinery. With the Villain out of the way momentarily, the blond Hero turned back to the group of trapped workers. As he approached, they continued to stare at him in absolute awe.

"Come on, there's no time to waste!" All Might declared, using what remained of his immense strength to lift the metal beams pinning them to the deck. "Let's get you all out of here!"

The shaken men and women rushed to their feet, before running as a group towards the remaining life boats. Toshinori ushered them along, his eyes continuing to scan the flames for any other possible stragglers. As the workers loaded into the boats, one of the last few to board turned around, presumably to thank him. Instead, the woman's eyes widened in terror, and she pointed at something behind the Hero. "Look out!"

The blond whirled around, raising his fists yet again. Unfortunately for him, his reaction time proved to be just a second too slow…

A fist crashed into All Might's cheek, and he was propelled downward into the lower levels of the flaming rig, igniting even more roaring explosions.

All For One panted raggedly, his once pristine suit torn and ripped in various places. His body itself was bruised and burned all over, but much to the horror of the deck crew, those wounds slowly appeared to be healing. The damage to his face, however, seemed to be beyond whatever power he possessed that allowed him to recover.

"What an irritating man…" the Villain huffed, glaring at the civilians through the blood pouring over his eyes. "Wouldn't you all agree? I wonder how strongly his resolve will hold once I eliminate that which he holds so dear…"

Raising a hand, which began to crackle with black lightning, the wounded man aimed his attack at the defenseless group of workers. They all cried out in terror, and huddled together in reluctant acceptance of their fate.

All for One smiled sickeningly in victory.

However, just as he prepared to fire to energy coating his fist, the sky above the rig was illuminated in a brilliant blue glow. Arching a brow in curiosity, the Villain raise his gaze to the heavens, intent on finding out who _else_ had decided to interrupt his fun.

It couldn't be Toshinori.

 _That_ buffoon was still several levels below…

Whoever it was, he would _annihilate_ them for daring to meddle in his affairs.

To All For One's shock, though, the light above continued to grow and grow in intensity. A crescent of blue energy suddenly broke though the cloud cover, and the shockwave it left behind cleared the night sky of every cloud for miles around. The wave of energy continued to scream down through the sky, but just as it neared the rig, it inexplicably dissipated.

"If I had to guess, I'd say you're the guy responsible for all of this…"

Whirling around towards the source fo the sudden voice, All for One scowled upon seeing a young man garbed in robes of black standing several feet away from him. An enormous blade in the shape of a cleaver rested across the orange-haired youth's shoulders, and the boy himself fixed the semi-wounded Villain with a throughly unimpressed expression.

"You assume correctly," All For One replied curtly, straightening his posture and clasping his hands behind his back. "And just who, may I ask, are you?"

The orange-head tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "You don't watch the news very often, do you…?"

"Not as much as I'd like to, I'm afraid. My plans require far too much attention. I simply cannot afford to find a single moment of relaxation."

"Yeah well, people call me Zangetsu."

"Zangetsu, hmm? Zangetsu, Zangetsu…where have I heard that name before? Ah yes! You're a fairly recent addition to the Hero scene, aren't you?" All For One taunted sarcastically.

The young man across from him shrugged. "I'm not really an official Hero. I just do whatever I feel is right. A lot of people seem to think I'm some kind of vigilante, though."

All For One shook his head regretfully. "That must be quite disappointing, eh? You risk your life to protect people, and yet are still branded as an enemy to the Hero Association."

"I don't care what people think of me. I just try to do what's right."

"How noble…" the Villain spat.

In the blink of an eye, the larger man surged forward and cocked his left arm back to deliver a mountain-shattering blow. Three metal blades erupted from his knuckles, and All For One let out an enraged roar as he prepared to kill the orange-haired brat. The boy himself didn't appear concerned in the slightest. Just before the wounded man's blades could tear into his flesh, the orange-head reacted faster than anticipated and brought his massive sword between them, deflecting the incoming attack.

This continued for several more minutes, with both combatants attacking and defending against each other as they blitzed across the entirety of the rig. Their movements increased to speeds no normal human could ever hope to keep up with, let alone track with their eyes.

"Very impressive!" All For One sneered as he blocked a slice aimed at his throat. "Your power is admittedly exceptional for someone so young."

"Shove it up your ass," the orange-haired swordsman retorted, flipping over a kick meant to shatter his ribcage. "I've face plenty of maniacs just like you before, and I really doubt you'll end up being the last."

"I assure you, _boy…"_ the Villain grinned, "…you have _never_ met anyone like me."

In a flash of motion, All For One's left hand clasped around the young man's throat. The boy's brown eyes widened in shock.

"How did you…?!"

"Did you honestly think I was using my full speed, _child_?" the older man snarled. Energy began to crackle along his left arm, and waves of power started to seep from the orange-head and into himself. "You are strong, that much is clear. I don't know where you came from, but I don't particularly care. You should feel honored, though; I've deemed your Quirk worthy enough to be added to my personal collection!"

The young swordsman cried out in agony as his energy continued to be absorbed.

* * *

It was a pain unlike anything he could describe.

Ichigo had fought _much_ stronger opponents, there was no doubt about that, but the man holding him up by the throat had caught him by surprise. The bastard had intentionally deceived him into lowering his guard by holding back his full speed, then blindsided him before he could properly react.

That wasn't the bad part, though.

The bad part was that he could _feel_ his Spiritual Energy decreasing with every passing second. This asshole was somehow _draining_ his power away! How was that even possible?! How could anyone in this world, populated by people so much weaker than him, have the ability to take away his Spiritual Energy?!

Interestingly enough, though, it didn't feel like the power was actually going anywhere. Ichigo's sensory abilities, though rapidly decreasing, still allowed him to feel that the Spiritual Energy being drained away was simply being redirected into the air around them, before dissipating entirely.

Apparently, the guy holding him up was quickly becoming aware of this too…

"What…what is happening?!" the bastard exclaimed, confusion and anger permeating his tone. "The power…why can't I take it? How are you doing this?!"

"I…ain't doing…anything…" Ichigo rasped as the grip around his throat tightened. "Don't feel too bad, though…plenty of men have performance issues…every now and then…"

A fist lodged itself in his stomach, and his weakened defenses ensured that he most certainly felt the force behind the blow.

"I can feel the process working! The energy is leaving your body, but it won't enter my own…" the Villain snarled, whirling around and slamming Ichigo against a heavily damaged wall. "It is as if your power refuses to be wielded by another."

Heh, that was probably more accurate than they man relaized…

Old Man Zangetsu and his Inner Hollow, as silent as they'd been for the past few days, were undoubtedly responsible as to why the bastard couldn't take his powers. They were reflections of Ichigo's very soul, and as such, it stood to reason that they would be pretty irked about having someone other than himself attempting to call the shots.

They obviously couldn't stop his strength from being drained, but they could at least ensure that it flowed somewhere other than into this scar-faced son of a bitch.

Roaring in fury, Ichigo called forth what remained of his Spiritual Energy and allowed it to flow into his Zanpakutō. The enormous blade was still wedged between them, meaning that what came next would have plenty of effect.

The Villain pinning the orange-head to the wall bared his teeth. "What are you doing now?"

"Getsuga…"

All For One's eyes widened in realization.

"… _TENSHŌ!"_

The crescent of Spiritual Power hit point blank, and the world around them was engulfed in a blue inferno. His powers may have been severely weakened, but Ichigo could tell that he was still more than strong enough to finish this fight.

The pure might of his attack eclipsed the moon itself, and All For One screamed in utter agony as his flesh popped and sizzled under the intense maelstrom of energy. His healing Quirk, as powerful as it was, was utterly helpless to repair the irreversible damage being done to his body. Searing burns spread across his shoulders and upper chest, and the upper half of his face burned away into an unrecognizable mass of flesh.

The last thing the Villain saw before blindness claimed him was Ichigo himself, standing tall and fearless. The orange-head's Shihakusho billowed harshly in the wind generated by the Getsuga Tenshō.

With his opponent finally lapsing into unconsciousness, Ichigo let out a relieved sigh and fell to his knees. By his own personal estimate, his powers had been nearly halved. Not quite, but almost. That still easily made him more powerful that the good majority of the people on the planet…

Falling back on his ass, the orange-head turned his gaze skyward and let out a tired sigh.

With his adrenaline gone, combined with the forced removal of a good portion of his powers, Ichigo's exhaustion finally caught up to him with a vengeance. His earlier encounter with Endeavor hadn't been much of a struggle, but he'd already been mentally tired throughout the entirety of _that_ meeting. Now, though? Now his physical exhaustion brought a heavy weight to his muscles.

How wonderful it would be to close his eyes, even if only for a moment…

As the realm of sleep finally claimed him as well, Ichigo idly heard the sound of shifting metal at the edge of his senses.

* * *

 _(The Following Morning)_

When he awoke, he found himself surrounded by white.

Oh shit, was he dead…?

No…no that couldn't be right. He knew what it felt like to die, at least back in his own world, and this didn't feel anything like that. Unbearable soreness still had a firm hold of his entire body, and simply raising his head felt comparable to fighting Grimmjow and Kenpachi simultaneously.

As he finally got a better look at his surroundings, it quickly became apparent that Ichigo was in a hospital. To be more specific, he was in a hospital bed. A large window took up the majority of the wall to his left, giving him a clear view of the world outside. The sky was a bright blue, and birdsong carried through the glass.

"You're awake…that's good."

Oh great. Now what?

Ichigo attempted to push himself up into a sitting position, but the action brought with it an immense pain, forcing him to wince and close his eyes. A firm weight settled on his shoulders, gently pushing him back down onto the bed.

When the orange-head opened his eyes again a second later, he was met with a face he definitely hadn't expected to see in person again so soon.

"All Might…?"

The blond man chuckled, lowering himself back down into his chair, which was positioned on the right side of Ichigo's bed. A patchwork of numerous bandages crisscrossed over his muscular body, making it immediately clear that he too had seen far better days. "It's good to see that you remember me, Zangetsu. Or should I call you Ichigo?" The Substitute tensed at the use of his real name, but All Might held up a hand in a calming fashion. "Don't worry, I hold no ill will against you for our previous encounter. In fact, I am incredibly grateful to you. If you hadn't shown up last night when you did, the workers aboard that oil rig would have undoubtedly perished."

Ichigo relaxed slightly. "So…everyone made it out alive, then?"

All Might nodded in confirmation. "Indeed they did, and All For One was also brought into custody by the authorities. He won't be causing any more trouble for the foreseeable future."

"All For One..?"

"The Villain you fought against. The news helicopter patrolling the sky around the rig recorded the entire encounter. I must say, young man, your tenacity in battle is nothing short of incredible. That fiend has been a thorn in my side for quite some time…it was good to see him finally get what's been coming to him."

It was clear that there was more to that story, but if All Might didn't want to divulge any more of what was obviously personal information, then Ichigo wasn't going to push him. He wasn't in any condition to do so, anyway. However, something the Pro Hero said finally clicked into place within his brain….

"Wait, you said there was a news chopper filming everything?"

All Might nodded. "That's correct."

Ichigo grimaced. "That means everyone watching the broadcast knows what I look like…"

The older man leaned back in his chair. "That they do. That being said, the Hero Association was also quick to deduce the identity of your companion from the other day. Am I correct in assuming that Jötunn is one Ymir Fritz?"

"If you people lay so much as a finger on her…" Ichigo snarled.

"Calm yourself, young man. As I said, I am currently indebted to you. Your actions on the rig made it abundantly clear that all you seek is to help those in need, despite what the media has claimed about you thus far," All Might praised. "That being the case, I spoke with several members of the Hero Association's board of directors last night over the matter of giving you a full pardon."

The orange-head blinked.

Well then. Having Japan's favorite Hero speak on his behalf would likely give his case a buttload of support.

"And…what did they say?"

"They agreed. All For One has been a major threat to the populace for quite some time, so your victory over him has improved your reputation significantly in the eyes of _many_ individuals. In fact, it was suggested by several other Pro Heroes in attendance of the meeting that you be given a provisional Hero License."

 _WHAT?!_

Seemingly sensing the younger man's confusion, All Might chuckled. "Of course, you would have to take a series of tests and classes in order to receive your official documents, but a provisional license would still allow you to continue patrolling the city. If you get involved in any kind of an incident with a Villain, all you'll have to do is get a Pro Hero to sign off on your assistance."

"Why go to all this trouble?" Ichigo asked, brow furrowing. "A lot of people in the community think I'm some kind of rogue vigilante. Why risk your own reputation to help improve mine?"

All Might shook his head. "You really should have more faith in people, my boy. The entire nation of Japan watched you protect those civilians on the oil rig last night. People all over the country have realized you were willing to give your life in order to protect the innocent. You're something of a celebrity, now."

"A celebrity?!"

The blond Hero laughed loudly, gesturing to the foot of Ichigo's bed.

The orange-head turned in the indicated direction, his eyes widening in surprise as they landed on a literal mountain of flowers and cards. How the hell had he not noticed _that?!_

"These letters have been coming in all night and morning," All Might informed him. "Most are get well letters, but there is a decent amount of fan mail in there too."

"How the hell am I gonna read all that?!" the Substitute cried.

"I'm sure you'll manage," the Number One Hero chuckled, pushing out his chair and standing up. Oddly enough, Ichigo noticed he seemed shorter that usual. "Well, I just wanted to inform you of everything that happened while you were unconscious. I'll leave you to get your rest now."

With that, the older man exited the room, leaving Ichigo alone.

Closing this eyes, he breathed deeply and extended his senses. When he'd first arrived in this world, he could easily detect everything within the city limits. But now, after whatever All For One had tried to do to him, his range had been limited to just over half that distance. His strength also felt like it had been sapped significantly, but that by no means meant he was weak. In fact, by his own estimate, he was still likely one of the most powerful living things on the planet.

The gap in power between himself and everyone else had simply decreased. That was fine, though; he could work with that. He'd fought against incredible odds before, and this time would likely be no different.

' _Your optimism is truly admirable, Ichigo,'_ a familiar voice spoke up within his mind.

The orange-head's eyes widened. "Old Man Zangetsu?!"

' _Indeed. I apologize for having been silent for so long, but much like you, I have been spending my time learning about this new world.'_

"You couldn't have helped me fight against that asshole last night?" he snarled.

' _Oh, but we did help you. We made certain that your Spiritual Energy was redirected into the surrounding air, instead of absorbed into that All For One character. Although, if my calculations are correct, he likely would not have even been able to handle your massive power.'_

"Then why not try and stop him from taking any of my power at all?"

' _The process itself was unfortunately something that could not be prevented. The choices were to either risk All For One potentially absorbing your abilities, or force the power he was attempting to drain into the atmosphere. As I said, I doubt he could have physically controlled the power of a Soul Reaper, but the potential risk was too high. If All For One HAD been able to take your powers as he intended, no force on this planet would have been able to stand against him.'_

"No, you…you made the right call. Thank you."

' **Besides, it ain't like you can't still kick ass, Kingy,'** his Inner Hollow snorted, finally electing to join the conversation as well. **'In fact, if you ever see that masked jackass again, I expect you to mash him into a bloody smear, ya hear?'**

"And where have you been?" the orange-head snorted sarcastically.

His Hollow scoffed. **'Oh, you know, just relaxing. Taking some me-time. It ain't like I helped my parter avoid getting all of his Spiritual Energy taken away by a deranged lunatic, or anything like that.'**

Ichigo released a frustrated sigh, before once more leaning back against the pillows of his hospital bed. If what his inner spirits said was true, then his own suspicions were confirmed. He was still immensely powerful…just not as powerful as before.

Well, it wasn't like he hadn't come out on top against far more powerful opponents before, right?

Grimmjow.

Kenpachi.

Ulquiorra.

Aizen.

All of them had been much stronger than him at one point or another, but he'd managed to find a way to beat them in the end. He sincerely doubted there was anyone in this new world that was as powerful as a Soul Reaper Captain or an Espada, but it still wouldn't hurt to be more cautious from now on. He still had people to protect, after all.

Closing his eyes, Ichigo allowed himself to drift off.

* * *

 **Throughout the** _ **Bleach**_ **storyline, it has been shown multiple times that Spiritual Energy can be taken away just as easily as it can be granted and restored. Kugo planned on absorbing Ichigo's powers at the end of the** _ **Fullbring Arc,**_ **so it isn't too much of a stretch to imagine that another significantly powerful being from another world could attempt to do the same.**

 **Key word being 'attempt.'**

 **All For One, from what I have personally gathered, is comparable in strength to most of the other Fullbringers. You are free to disagree, but he is still insanely powerful. That is not something that can be argued. And let's not forget, the scene I just depicted occurs before he was mortally wounded by All Might in the manga, which means he was far more powerful than he is even during the infamous 'United States of Smash' scene.**

 **Even then, he and All Might were strong enough to level a good portion of the city.**

 **I'd also like to issue the reminder that Ichigo is also not as powerful in this story as he is during the** _ **Thousand Year Blood-War Arc.**_ **This story takes place almost directly after the** _ **Fullbring Arc,**_ **and Ichigo's strength reflects that.**

 **With all of this being said, I'm sure all of you** _ **Bleach**_ **fans will remember how much of a struggle Ichigo experienced during his fight against Kugo. And, since All For One is, in my opinion, of a similar strength to Ginjō, it isn't unreasonable to suggest that he would be able to catch Ichigo off guard at one point. And in a fight, one moment of surprise is all it can take to decide who the victor will be.**

 **All For One wasn't able to absorb Ichigo's powers like he planned, but he was still able to drain some of them away. Old Man Zangetsu and Hichigo interfered in the transfer process, and made sure to redirect the energy somewhere else. Since they are visual representations of Ichigo's power, it stands to reason that they would be able to influence it even as it left his body.**

 **There is no doubt in my mind that some of you will be angry or annoyed immensely with my decision. At this point, however, I just do not care. A lot of you have requested that I think of a reasonable way to make Ichigo more equal in strength to the rest of the MHA characters, and this was the best idea I could come up with. It makes sense, and Ichigo is still one of the most powerful characters in this story. That will not change. All that HAS changed is that the power gap between him and everyone else has become slightly smaller. He will have to actively try against stronger opponents, such as the Nomu and All For One, but most of the other Villains still pale in comparison.**

 **Keep in mind though, that this story will not be dominated by fights. Power levels are not as important as the actual content of the plot. If I had to personally choose between focussing of outstanding fights and character development, I would pick character development all day long. That isn't to say fights aren't fun or a good way to progress the story, but if all you want is fight scenes, I suggest you go watch the actual anime.**

 **If I sound angry or irritated, I am genuinely sorry. However, I hope that some of you can understand how irritating it is to receive constant messages attempting to tell me how to scale power levels. Genuine advice is MORE than welcome, but there have been plenty of stuck up people telling me that I have no idea what I'm doing, and that their personal opinion is comparable to the word of God himself.**

 **Let me make myself perfectly clear to the people who are of such a mindset:**

 **You have no idea how any of these fictional characters would be able to impact or influence one another if they were to actually meet. WOULD All For One actually be able to drain a portion of Ichigo's powers? I don't know, but that is the route that I have chosen to explore. Perhaps there is an alternate reality in which it wouldn't work, but this isn't that reality.**

 **Also, please keep in mind that this is a fanfiction. I am not Tite Kubo, nor am I Kohei Horikoshi.**

 **I am not perfect by any means, so I encourage you all to not hold me to the same standards as the professional authors. I am not as intimately familiar with their characters as they are, and as such, I am clueless as to their ultimate potential and ultimate weaknesses. All I do know is based off of what I've seen in the anime and manga as a fan and viewer. This story is just something I am doing for fun and personal enjoyment.**

 **If you are so disgusted with my choice to have All For One decrease Ichigo's power level that you feel you can't continue reading this story, then I am sorry. I'm not going to change anything, though.**

 **If you have sensible and rational questions, please feel free to send me a PM.**

 **AlucardsBro OUT!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone.**

 **No update today, but I do have a bit of an announcement to make. Unfortunately, I have lost nearly all passion for this story, and as such, my motivation to continue writing it continues to dwindle with each passing day. It's certainly unfortunate, since this is by far my most followed fic.**

 **However, I've been getting a good number of unnecessarily venomous PMs recently regarding my decision concerning Ichigo's power level, and I'm just growing tired of having to deal with it. The same thing happened with the original version of this story, and we all know how that version turned out; with me quitting it.**

 **Some of you may want to criticize me by saying that I "can't take negative criticism."**

 **Maybe you're right. However, maybe this story just wasn't meant to be, either. There are some ideas that sound cool as a concept, but when you actually put words to paper, it doesn't turn out to be as good as you'd hoped it would be. Perhaps that is the case with this story.**

 **Now, before everyone goes into a panic, keep in mind that I'm still on the fence about continuing. Who knows; I might get a sudden burst of enthusiastic inspiration. At the moment, though, I'm still trying to decide what to do.**

 **Just know that I would rather give you all a story that I am passionate about, instead of one that I simply feel obligated to finish. I'm attempting to write another chapter, and I'll probably reach a final decision once I finish it. If I decide to finish the story when that time comes, then I will delete this notification and simply continue pumping out chapters as if nothing ever happened.**

 **However, if I decide to stop writing this story, then I'll let you all know.**

 **The rest of my fics will continue on normally. They will not be affected by this issue.**

 **Best Regards,**

 **AlucardsBro.**


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